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(CNN) - Debris covers the track and inside the domestic terminal, leaving wires hanging from the ceiling. Small planes were broken and twisted, almost unrecognizable, after being thrown by the winds and floods of Hurricane Dorian.
The Grand Bahama International Airport has been devastated by the storm, along with much of the island where it is located.
Freeport airport was inaccessible earlier this week when Dorian hit northern Bahamas. The waves licked the windows of the domestic terminal, showed videos on social networks.
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A walk through that same area on Wednesday exposed the extent of damage to the only international airport on the island.
"Look at it now," said Patrick Oppmann of CNN as he and his team crossed the track and crossed a terminal. "I do not recognize".
The walls had disappeared almost completely, shattered by Dorian's wrath.
"There is no standing wall," Oppmann said.
Among the remains seemed to be the bottom of a small passenger plane, separated from the rest of the aircraft, which lay inside the terminal.
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"Think of the force required to launch a plane from the runway to a terminal," he said. "If there was someone here, I don't know how they would have survived."
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There was no electricity on Wednesday at the airport, the CNN team said.
Officials at that time had not yet assessed the damage at the international airport terminal, they told CNN. The structure was still standing, but it had suffered obvious damage from the floods, the CNN team found.
A damaged plane lies in along a road in Pine Bay in Freeport, Grand Bahama, on September 4 (Credit: Ramon Espinosa / AP)
A critical place is isolated for now
The airport is a vital point for the island of Grand Bahama to connect with the rest of the world. With its destruction, it would be difficult for communities in need to get help or leave, if necessary, Oppmann said.
"It will be impossible for someone who was injured or who simply wants to leave the island to leave here," he said. "Help cannot enter."
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"Now it's just a debris field," he added. "Then, if help is going to come, it will have to come in another way."
Fortunately, US Coast Guard helicopters and planes flew over the island early Thursday morning, Oppmann and his crew said.
"This is incredibly encouraging because so far there has been no sign of assistance from the outside world to this isolated island," he said.
Help staff and supplies had also begun to reach other sites and by sea.
By Thursday, the Grand Bahama runway had been cleared of debris, residents told Oppmann, but it was still unclear when he would reopen the airport.
Jaide García of CNN contributed to this report.
Bahamas, Hurricane Dorian
