Federation Spared Major Hurricance Impact

Heavy Clouds over St. Kitts

St. Kitts, Dec 1, 2010 (SKNIS): National Disaster Co-ordinator Carl Herbert has announced the official end of the hurricane season stating that citizens can now breathe a sigh of relief.

Mr. Herbert in an address to the Federation of St. Kitts and Nevis said people can now breathe a sigh of relief given the fact that the worst is probably over although from time to time unusual weather systems do arise outside of the hurricane season.

Mr. Herbert called on all churches in the Federation to join in thanksgiving to God on Sunday December 5th for sparing the Federation from the ravages of a serious hurricane.

The co-ordinator said while other Caribbean countries such as St. Lucia, St. Vincent, Dominica, Belize, Jamaica, Barbados, Haiti and St. Maarten had suffered from hurricanes this season the people of St. Kitts and Nevis had a lot to be thankful for. Not diminishing the impact of several systems which affected the Federation over the six month period he said it could not compare to what other countries had to face.

“Mr. Herbert said forecasters had predicted an extremely active 2010 hurricane season with 18 named storms, ten hurricanes, of which five were expected to become major hurricanes (winds of 111 miles per hour and stronger).”

In reality, during the six-month period there were 19 named storms and twelve hurricanes of which five were Categories 3 to 5.

“Many of us held our breaths, prepared our homes and prayed to God as weather systems approached our highly vulnerable country and region. It was with much relief that we observed several weather systems journey towards the northern Leeward Islands, and just in the nick of time make the much hoped for and forecasted turn further away from us” said Mr. Herbert.

Mr. Herbert recounted the mixed feelings experienced by all as various reports of devastation in other islands while maintaining gratitude by our own good fortune. In spite of experiencing twelve inches of rain during the first ten days of October and several homes having minor damage, it paled in comparison to what our Caribbean neighbors experienced, added the relieved National Disaster Co-ordinator.

Mr. Herbert thanked residents who responded positively to repeated calls from the Agency for a high level of preparedness as well as the staff of disaster management offices, St. Kitts Nevis Red Cross Society, management and staff of the Water and Public Works and Electricity Departments, the parks and beaches unit, Internet and Cable TV providers, security forces, heavy equipment operators and the media.