Richards: Community must
prepare for hurricane season
PHILIPSBURG--With the official start of the 2007 hurricane season just two weeks away, Lt. Governor Franklyn Richards has asked that members of the community put their affairs in order.
In a Government Information Service (GIS) press release issued Tuesday, Richards stressed, “It makes no sense to make major preparations days or hours before a hurricane strike.” The 2007 hurricane season officially starts June 1 and ends November 30.
He told GIS, “We have already had a wake-up call with the formation of the first named storm of the season last week Wednesday called Sub-tropical Storm Andrea.”
He urged the public to “prepare early and avoid being caught unprepared.” He said, “Preparedness starts with every one of us within civil society. As a community we must plan early and don’t wait until the last moment to rush to get things done, because it can result in injury.”
He continued, “Putting together a hurricane disaster kit is also another essential part of preparing early, as well as stockpiling non-perishables.”
Richards, Chairman of the Island’s Disaster Emergency Management Organisation, the Emergency Operations Centre (EOC), said preparations should already have started even though the official start of the season is still two weeks away.
He reminded residents that the month of May for the Caribbean and the US Eastern Seaboard and the Gulf of Mexico is a period used to prepare for the six-month hurricane season.
Some other suggestions for preparation include the removal of debris from around homes and businesses, checking hurricane shutters and the roof of your home or business to make sure windows can close securely, and repairing weak spots in the roof.
According to the release, the remaining names of hurricanes for this year are: Barry, Chantal, Dean, Erin, Felix, Gabrielle, Humberto, Ingrid, Jerry, Karen, Lorenzo, Melissa, Noel, Olga, Pablo, Rebekah, Sebastien, Tanya, Van and Wendy.
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