[ad_1]
By Kevon Browne
ST. KITTS AND NEVIS (WINN) — The Caribbean is officially entering the 2024 Atlantic hurricane season, with four or five tropical storms already passing through the region, a sign of what officials are predicting will be an unusually active season.
Abdias Samuel, the National Disaster Coordinator of the National Emergency Management Agency, reiterated the call for preparedness during an episode of WINN’s “The Voice” program aired on June 7, 2024. Despite officials’ constant urging, Samuel expressed dissatisfaction with the government’s lack of seriousness regarding the season’s warnings, stressing the seriousness of the situation.
“We don’t see a sense of urgency from the agency. What we see is a high level of complacency. And there’s always the question: Well, Abu Dias, what do you want to see? We want to see more action from the public in terms of preparing their homes. We’re checking homes (and) looking at planned events. We want to see the business community do (what SKELEC is doing). If you go to their office on Central Avenue, you’ll see they have a whole display advising their clients on some of the things they can do, some of the things they can do to be ready with emergency response gear. King Socrates, we want all of the business community to do the same.”
St Kitts and Nevis has not been hit by a serious hurricane in the past few years, and many say that this is because the islands are lucky. But Samuel believes that we cannot rely on past trends that had no impact to predict this season.
“Once people’s behavior changes and they accept that we are in an extremely active season, with better than normal weather and warmer temperatures — I just told you about my experience — those are the signs that we are going to have a challenging hurricane season. It’s no longer like that, yes, we are lucky. It’s no longer like that, you know, divine intervention … We hope for all the divine intervention, but we have to be realistic. You hear me so passionately because I don’t want our small island nation to get into a reactive phase. We have to be proactive, and that proactivity comes from public preparedness, (and) national preparedness to respond to the needs of those affected when this happens. In the meantime, we have this space.”
The enhanced warning comes as climate change continues to damage the environment, causing sea surface temperatures to rise further, which in turn fuels the formation of storms.
“Sea surface temperatures are also increasing deep in the ocean. That means we have extremely hot ocean waters. It affects marine life, and then it provides a favorable environment for storms to form and develop. It fuels storms. And the forecasts don’t show sea surface temperatures dropping any time soon.”
The national disaster coordinator also said hurricanes late in the season could be more intense than currently forecast.
“In the second half of the season, we may see an intensification of that forecast because the Saharan dust will subside. Saharan dust sometimes moves southward. For example, recently, someone called me about Saharan dust. So I told them that the levels in the northeast are much lower compared to the levels in the south. That’s why some people may experience it and others may not experience (it) because the levels are not high enough for us to issue any warnings. Now, when the concentration reaches one part per million — when it reaches that threshold — that’s when we consider issuing an advisory.”
In WINN’s June 2007 edition of Fire Prevention, an official shared his thoughts on the public’s lack of urgency and concern about hurricane season.
“For all the talk about the active season, what might happen and so on, people are still not paying attention to the warnings. People don’t seem to care. They are just going with the flow and living their normal lives.”
With unusual conditions expected throughout the season, Samuel continues to urge families, communities and businesses to have effective disaster plans in place to mitigate the impacts of potential storms.
[ad_2]
Source link
