DEO chairman calls for persons to be prepared

With the Atlantic Hurricane Season set to officially start on Tuesday, June 1, Chairman of the St. John District Emergency Organisation (DEO), John Haynes, is urging persons in that parish and wider Barbados to get prepared for the season, which is predicted to be above-normal this year.

As such, he is encouraging persons to not only stock up on water as well as canned and dry goods, but to check around their premises regularly to ensure that, for example, their roof gutters are free of debris. His comments came in an interview with The Barbados Advocate, ahead of the DEO going into the parish on Saturday to distribute 50 cases of bottled water.

“We need them to check their premises. Get someone to go on the roof and make sure that all the nails or screws, depending on what they have up there, are all tightened down. They also need to clear their gutters, as those can get clogged with leaves and things of that nature. And generally around your area where you know water may possibly settle if there is heavy rain, make sure that you clean it and all in front of your house. You don’t have to wait until MTW comes to clean in front of you, you can nicely clean it and dispose of any debris that may be around, as these can become missiles during storm force winds,” he said.

His comments came as he said that despite the predictions for above-normal activity this hurricane season, he is hoping that this season will not cause us any major damage in this country, if any at all. Haynes made the point as he said that the DEO is itself doing its part to ensure that the community is ready should a storm or hurricane come, noting that they have identified some areas where trees need to be trimmed.

“Right now we are looking at mitigating circumstances, so that if anything happens we are prepared. There are some trees which we would love to have trimmed, but there

is always the challenge of getting trees trimmed at this time. The major ones we are looking at are around the Villa Nova area and there are some when you leave the junction to go down to Church View, a lot of mile trees there. We need to get the front section trimmed or cut away. One is actually lapped into another one and the weight from one can cause the other to collapse,” he stated.

Meanwhile, speaking on the distribution of the bottled water, he said the initiative was made possible by the Barbados Bottling Company (BBC) Limited, which donated the 50 cases of water. Haynes indicated that the water was being distributed to those who are considered most vulnerable in the community.

“We went into our database which would give us information on persons who are over the age of 70 and who would be considered vulnerable persons in the parish. These are people who we would have to respond to during any impact. We looked at the ones who live alone or who have to get persons to come in and care for them. We have two persons on the list who are blind and we have two persons who have to use wheelchairs. We are doing this at this time, so that persons would understand the necessity to stock up on things like water in preparation for the hurricane season,” he stated.

Among the communities visited on Saturday were St. Margaret’s Village, Pothouse, Sargeant Street, Kendal, Wilson Hill, Venture, Edge Cliff, New Castle, Gall Hill, Martin’s Bay and Glenburnie. (JRT)