Territory Being Prepared For Hurricane Season

No Image Found!
BVI Platinum News

(PLTM) - With the possibility of two major hurricanes this season, preparations are afoot to adequately prepare the territory for the hurricane season, which begins in June and runs until November.

Minister of Health and Social Development, Hon. Carvin Malone says that even as Government remains hopeful that there will not be a huge impact this year, preparations are being made to ensure all persons have adequate resilient housing in the event of a storm.

“The 2018 season was quite respectful to us,” he stated, adding that he is hopeful that this year will be the same.

He noted, “We would not have all of the homes repaired before the season starts…We hope that we can get as many people and we look forward to all the efforts from the Ministry.”

The Minister explained that they are currently looking to have all the traditional hurricane shelters ready.

”We are looking at those shelters that may have residents right now and finding ways in which we can have them located so we can then have the shelters available for persons who may have to flee or move from low-lying areas and so forth,” he stated.

Other options for housing are also being considered, with the Minister revealing, “Movements are afoot to repair a number of properties that may well not have the owners here, but we can get permission to repair them so that we can move people in safe areas.”

Meanwhile, Governor Augustus Jaspert said that, “This is a time when we need to be focusing on our preparations for the territory as a whole.”

He noted that the National Disaster Management Council is examining all key areas to prepare for.

“We’re looking at shelters, making sure we’ve got adequate shelters for the Territory. We’ve been looking at key supplies from the Government of the Virgin Islands. Also, the British Government has donated contingency stocks which we’re deploying around sister-islands as well,” he explained.

“We’ve got emergency communications put in place, having learnt lessons when we lost all the communications after the 2017 storms as well,” the Governor added.

Security is also a concern as the hurricane season approaches. The Governor indicated that the council has met with security agencies and discussed how they will respond and how they will protect their assets.

The council also looked at the agencies’ vehicles so they could respond quickly and “how they will deploy in areas to make sure they’re in the streets as soon as it’s safe to do.”

Everyone must play a part, the Governor stressed, as he explained that the emergency alert system is back in place.

“The sirens, with a huge amount of work by the Department of Disaster Management, are largely reinstalled across the territory as well as the early warning system,” he related.

The Department of Disaster Management (DDM) had previously issued a call for everyone to prepare for the season, revealing that as forecasters have predicted a slightly above normal number of storms for the season.

In the April predictions for this year’s Atlantic Hurricane Season, there are indications of the potential for five to seven hurricanes to develop, with two possibly becoming major hurricanes.”

The forecast also calls for 12 to 15 tropical storm formations.

These forecasts indicate a near-normal or slightly above normal number of storms for the season, which runs June 1 to November 30.

Reader Opinion
Please note that the opinions posted are the opinions of its author and does not in any way reflect the views of the management, staff, parent company or sponsors of Virgin Islands Platinum News.
There are no comments to show at this time.
Cruise Schedule
IN PORT - TODAY ( 29 March )
We have no cruise ship in port on this day!
IN PORT - TOMORROW ( 30 March )
We have no cruise ship in port on this day!