Storm causes minimal damage but Acting PM says preventive work must continue
By Jenique Belgrave
Tropical Storm Bret provided emergency officials with a “good dry run” to identify the strengths and weaknesses in the national preparedness plan, said Acting Prime Minister Santia Bradshaw, as the country’s leader cautioned residents to expect even more climate events.
Speaking after the passage of the storm – which caused damage to houses, felled trees and utility poles, and resulted in electricity outages in some parts of the island – Bradshaw said it gave officials the opportunity to see whether there were any issues arising from procedures that were good on paper.
“I consider this a dry run to get us to reevaluate and assess what we have to improve on. We have a lot of procedures, a lot of policies on paper, but it is only when we get the warning that the system is coming, that we actually see all those things work.
“We figure out whether the satellite phones are working. Oftentimes in government departments, there’s a change in officers and we realise as we are approaching hurricane season that those new persons have not been familiarised with the processes and the procedures for the hurricane season. So, I think this really gave us an opportunity to take stock of where we are and what we have to do,” she said on VOB’s Down to Brass Tacks call-in programme.
In a brief statement issued from Paris, where she attended the Summit for a New Global Financing Pact, Prime Minister Mia Mottley said Barbadians would have to “get accustomed to more climate events – from droughts to Sargassum seaweed to floods and hurricanes”.
“We have to adapt to our new reality. It is for this reason that I was in Paris this week to meet with world leaders and heads of international financial institutions to commit to innovative financial instruments that can be used by climate-vulnerable countries. This is to help us better prepare as a nation and across households and businesses for this new reality of the climate crisis,” Mottley said.
Meanwhile, Bradshaw, who is also Minister of Transport, Works and Water Resources, said some of the positives coming out of the experience was that there was no significant flooding and there was no long turnaround time in getting the island reopened.
“Certainly, from my ministry’s perspective, we didn’t see the level of flooding that we were anticipating. We did a lot of preliminary work to try to avert that on this occasion, and the lesson for us is that we need to continue to do a lot of the preventative work that is necessary.
“We also have to continue to find the solutions in relation to drainage, to be able to prevent the level of flooding that we’ve seen obviously in the past. But I think we can perfect our systems in terms of turnaround time to get persons back onto the roads and back to work. And that is something the private sector and ministries are all reflecting on, as to how we can improve those types of systems to get Barbados back up and running,” she stressed.
With the island being granted a reprieve from the full brunt of the weather system, even as gusty winds and heavy rains pounded the island in the wee hours of Friday morning, Bradshaw said the level of damage was not as extensive as anticipated.
According to the Department of Emergency Management (DEM), eight houses either lost their roofs or were otherwise severely damaged during the storm – one each in St Lucy, St Joseph and Christ Church, two in St John and three in St Michael.
Bradshaw said the DEM had sent out assessors to get a better idea of the needs of persons affected by the system.
Meanwhile, Barbados Light & Power Company (BLPC) teams were dispatched to restore power to several districts which experienced electricity outages due to downed utility poles.
About 3 000 customers woke up without electricity on Friday, but Manager of Communication and Government Relations Jackie Marshall-Clarke reported Friday evening that the utility crew members had worked feverishly to restore power to almost all customers.
“Rigorous efforts today have resulted in only 237 customers currently awaiting restoration,” she said around 5 p.m.
Meanwhile, General Manager of the Barbados Water Authority (BWA) Keithroy Halliday told Barbados TODAY that though there were outages and low water pressure in some parts of the island, redundancy systems worked as designed and kept most of the island’s water supply online.
As the country returned to normal, the Transport Board bus service was one of the first to get back on schedule after the all-clear was issued after 6 a.m.
While schools remained closed on Friday, 600 students sitting the Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examinations (CAPE) made their way to examination centres across the island.
“That seems to have gone well. We facilitated them also in being able to go to the centres that are closer to them, which was an accommodation that CXC [the Caribbean Examinations Council] would have made,” Bradshaw said.
The Grantley Adams International Airport and Bridgetown Port also resumed operations on Friday morning.
Responding to criticisms that the Government should have made an earlier decision to shut down the island, the Acting PM said it was not that straightforward.
“We have to consider the students, we have to consider our shelters, we have to consider the transportation issues, we have to look at the issues related to the airport and air travel, flights coming in and out of the island. There are a number of factors that have to be weighed in the decision-making as to whether we close the island or whether we reduce the pressure that will be put on us if we have to make a decision within a few hours of the system approaching,” she explained.
Expressing similar sentiments, President of the Barbados Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BCCI) James Clarke said while a faster decision would have been preferred, in a fluid situation where storms can change direction at any time, it is critical for the Government to have all the relevant information before deciding to close down the country.
“I think the system was trending north and in the day, it seemed to turn and was heading back south, so that [had] an impact. You do not want to shut down the country unnecessarily but the flip side is, if you need to shut down you want to be able to make that call. There are so many facets, and the Government certainly was on it with all of the agencies and getting everybody together trying to find out what was the best route.
“The information you get now, two hours later when the Hurricane Hunter goes in, it can come back and paint a different picture, and you have to make other decisions at that time…. Sure it would have been nice to know things a bit earlier, but I do appreciate that sometimes that is not always possible as everybody works with the information they have to hand to make the best decision that they can at the time, and we all have to be aware that that can change quickly,” he told Barbados TODAY.
Clarke reported that businesses across the island were back to their regular routines before midday as there had been little impact on commerce.
Bradshaw and Clarke both reminded the public that the hurricane season had now started, with back-to-back systems already churning in the Atlantic, and encouraged residents to be prepared. “I really hope that Bajans would reflect on what has happened. We have been spared, and I have been seeing photos and videos of what is happening on other islands, so we have been fortunate, but we cannot sit on our laurels and must get our house in order,” stressed the Acting PM.
Meantime, Tropical Storm Cindy which formed behind Bret poses no threat to Barbados, meteorological officials have advised.
jeniquebelgrave@barbadostoday.bb
