BASSETERRE, St. Kitts, May. 24.2018 – WITH the Atlantic Hurricane Season just over a week away, the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) has engaged all stakeholders in a workshop to discuss and review lessons from the 2017 season.
The 2017 hurricane season left hundreds of people dead and billions of dollars in infrastructure and housing damage across the region.
St. Kitts and Nevis recorded over $100 million in public service losses from the tail end of named storms, Irma and Maria.
Deputy Director of NEMA, Claricia Langley Stevens told the gathering at NEMA’s headquarters today that the St. Kitts Meteorological Office has indicated that this season will have similar activities to that of 2017, adding that it will be more intense.
SKNVibes understands that forecasters are expecting 17 storms in the Atlantic region this season, of which 10 will be named. Emergency officials from the Red Cross, Nevis Disaster Management Agency (NDMA), the Coast Guard amongst others were present at the one-day workshop to discuss last year’s storms and see how best they can prepare for 2018.
“I think our preparedness is usually to prepare for the worst and expect the best. We were prepared for the worst [last year], and our worst was not as bad as Dominica or Barbuda,” Stevens said.
The deputy director in giving an overview of last year’s preparedness, revealed that the Emergency Operations Center (EOC) was operational three times in 2018 for Hurricanes Jose, Irma and Maria.
According to Claricia Langley Stevens, the EOC was, for the first time, activated last year, outside of the 2015 Tradewinds Exercise.
She said too that the operationalizing of the EOC was a new process for those involved, including chairs of the various subcommittees of the NEMA.
Stevens pointed out that one of the challenges faced last year was with the second storm, Hurricane Maria, which provided lengthy periods of rainfall, adding that it was due to the fact that the storm was the first of its kind to provide the level of “rainfall” that it did.
The various sectors on both St. Kitts and Nevis are currently in the process of fine-tuning their strategies to mitigate against significant damage from any story.
The Agriculture Department on St. Kitts is one such agency, as officials have established a working committee to discuss the way forward for the sector which received significant damage last year.
