BASSETERRE, St. Kitts - THE Hurricane Season is not yet a week old, but already many Caribbean islands are suffering from inclement weather.
Over the weekend, heavy rains affected a number of Caribbean islands, including Barbados and Trinidad and Tobago, resulting in a massive clean-up operation.
Flash flood warnings continue for Haiti and Jamaica as a large but disorganised system of disturbed weather associated with a broad area of low pressure moves over a large portion of the Caribbean Sea.
Reports of damage in Haiti are already surfacing.
Officials from Haiti report, “Torrential rains lashed Haiti on Tuesday, flooding shanty towns, swamping the squalid camps erected after a 2010 earthquake. Reports state that floods and mudslides have killed at least 13 people.”
From Jamaica, there are reports of flooding, especially in the St. Thomas parish area where some areas have become marooned. Some roads are also becoming impassable due to flooding caused by heavy rains.
Several residents in Mullock, St. Catherine are now cut off from the community of Treadways, near Linstead, as a section of the Mount Rosser Bypass has broken away.
Flash flood warnings have now become relevant for the entire country.
Jamaica's National Meteorological Service has extended the flash flood warning for low-lying and flood-prone areas of St. Mary, Portland, St. Thomas, Kingston and St. Andrew, St. Catherine, Clarendon, Manchester, and St. Elizabeth until 5:00 a.m. today.
A flash flood watch remains in effect for all other parishes.
Fishers and other marine interests were advised to exercise extreme caution, as strong winds and rough sea conditions were expected.
Nationals of St. Kitts and Nevis should use this news a reminder that we are very much within the Hurricane Season and should begin urgent preparations so that damage to homes and businesses can be minimised.
Many large trees can still be seen overhanging the roads and are perilously near to some homes in Greenlands and other residential districts. Both the public sector and private sector must realise that now that we are being ‘forewarned’, we must now become ‘forearmed’.
