St Mary residents urged to be alert as hurricane approaches

Annotto Bay, St. Mary:

Describing the Annotto Bay area in St Mary as vulnerable to flooding and other disasters, Local Government Minister Desmond McKenzie is warning residents to be on the alert and to brace for unfavourable weather conditions, especially this weekend.

McKenzie, who toured sections of the north-eastern parish on Thursday, also expressed satisfaction at the state of the disaster shelter at the Annotto Bay High School. The institution has been prepared to accommodate residents in the event there is a disaster.

“I’m particularly pleased with what I’m seeing here at this high school, which is in an advanced state of readiness,” said McKenzie.

The local government minister commended the parish disaster coordinator, the mayor, and the principal and staff of the school.

“This weekend, based on the reports from the weather bureau, the island is expected to be affected by a system that is developing in this section of the region that will give us heavy rainfall over the next three to four days,” McKenzie said.

He said that all the municipal corporations and mayors have been put on alert for the impending bad weather.

“I have asked the mayors to ensure that all the parish disaster committees are on standby, and if needs be if there are any critical drains that we need to get cleaned that will help to contribute to flooding, we will allow those to take place,” he added.

According to McKenzie, it was important for persons to stay alert and to listen to the various updates and reports that would be provided by the Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management (ODPEM) and the National Meteorological Service.

“It’s definite that we are going to be impacted by rains over the next couple of days and we are hoping that the system will only give us heavy rains and that it will stay north of the country.”

Mayor of Port Maria Richard Creary said that each councillor was allocated $1 million to carry out major cleaning of critical drains in their respective divisions in St Mary from as early as May, before the start of the Atlantic hurricane season.