Home Affairs Minister says Gov’t better prepared than before for hurricane season

Barbados is not only in line for more tropical cycles but it is also due to be impacted by a major hurricane, Director of the Barbados Meteorological Services Sabu Best has warned.

Meantime, the Government says it is more prepared than it has ever been for a hurricane season.

Speaking at a press conference at the Department of Emergency Management (DEM) headquarters on Wednesday morning to mark the start of the 2022 Atlantic hurricane season, Best said data showed the island was more likely now than ever before to be affected by tropical systems.

He noted the predictions of another above-average hurricane season, similar to 2021. However, the meteorologist said what was of particular concern was the fact that between 2010 and 2021, seven storms had passed in close proximity to Barbados.

He said this had never happened before in such a short space of time.

“The last climatological period, 1991 to 2020, the number of tropical cyclones that passed within 50 kilometres of Barbados – that’s basically a direct hit – was six. This is an all-time record. It beats the previous record of 1871 to 1900 which was four. So it’s more than a hundred-year record, we’re probably talking about 150 years almost. This is evidence that Barbados is in the firing line of more tropical cyclones and we have to be ready,” Best maintained.

“The next average will be 2001 to 2030. Those six tropical cyclones that passed within 50 kilometres of Barbados occurred between 2010, and if we included Elsa last year, that makes seven. So, the new climatological average, even though . . . we’re not to 2030 yet, we’re at seven. We’re already beating the record that’s set right now. Almost every single year we’re being impacted by a tropical cyclone. Luckily, so far the intensity we have been looking at are tropical storms to Category 1 hurricanes, so so far we’ve been lucky.

“We have to understand that when you have so many tropical cyclones, the occurrence is happening so frequent, then the risks are greater for an impact. There may be a year or two that we escape, but don’t let your guard down,” he added.

Best noted that based on the data, a major hurricane was expected to strike approximately every 100 years.

“We haven’t seen one in over a hundred years and the fact that we are in this uptick cycle, seeing these systems form faster further south, closer to Barbados and impacting us, we have to be on guard,” he maintained, noting that the Met Office, which recently installed a new weather radar, would provide Barbadians with frequent updates on impending weather systems.

Minister of Home Affairs and Information Wilfred Abrahams, who was also at Wednesday’s press conference, said Government was more prepared than it had ever been for a hurricane season.

He said the lessons learned last year had heavily influenced its decision making.

“If you look around you now, you will notice that today is June 1 and already you are seeing many drains and waterways cleared already. You’ve seen the guttering being cleared in the last couple of weeks. Retention ponds, detention ponds have been constructed. There is a major move afoot to get Barbados prepared for this hurricane season,” Abrahams said.

“The probability of a system impacting us has increased over the years to the point now where more storms are coming within impact range of Barbados than ever before and they are coming earlier. The Government took a position in consultation with all of our stakeholders that although the hurricane season officially began June 1, our preparedness effort was aimed at meeting a deadline of May 1. By doing that, we are definitely a lot more prepared on June 1 than we have ever been,” the Minister explained.

However, Abrahams maintained that Barbadians still needed to properly prepare for themselves, noting that Barbados was still recovering from the impact of Hurricane Elsa last year.

Director of the DEM Kerry Hinds reiterated that hurricane preparedness was “everyone’s business”.

She said stakeholders had focused on three strategic priorities: agency and national operation preparedness; expanding preparedness and response partnerships to support the readiness of the system; and building community resilience.

Meanwhile, the president of the Barbados Alliance to End Homelessness (BAEH) Kemar Saffrey said they were prepared for the hurricane season.

He said the BAEH could house a maximum of 90 people and he urged Barbadians to help the organisation get the homeless off the street and to safety.  randybennett@barbadostoday.bb