PM: Take Elsa seriously!

Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley is urging Barbadians to take Tropical Storm Elsa seriously.

She has described the weather system as a “threat to the island”, given that on its forecast track, the center of Tropical Storm Elsa should pass this morning about 40 miles (65km) to the south.

“Any system that you know historically, that is to our south is always a system that we should take very, very, very seriously,” she insisted during a press conference yesterday afternoon.

“For those who say, well what happens if it doesn't rain or the wind don’t come, say hallelujah, Thanks be to God…But, I am here to say to you that this storm, is a threat to Barbados. We will pray, we will do everything that is necessary, and we will hope as well. But hope and prayer at this stage still does not remove from us the obligation of getting ready, of protecting lives, and of protecting property”.

“And to that extent, therefore, we have made the determination that there is nothing more important for us on this island, in this nation over the course of the next 36 hours than to confront the reality of Tropical Storm Elsa. We hope that there will be no further strengthening, but I've been around long enough to know that those things can happen too, and therefore Barbadians need to stay glued to all official forms of communication,” she encouraged.

The Prime Minister therefore reiterated the call to be prepared, also imploring those persons not sure about the safety of their homes to seek emergency shelter being provided across the island.

“And I really want in particular to appeal to all Barbadians who also know that their houses are vulnerable; know that you're not that sure what would happen if the roof went off and looking a little shaky. Or you were one of the persons, one of the165 houses that was damaged two weeks ago in the freak storm, I am formally appealing to you that in those circumstances, it is better to be safe than sorry,” she stressed.

“We have gone into great detail to be able to ensure that the shelters are there. If you have family that you can go by, by all means that's the best place to be, but if you don't have family who can accommodate you, or if their houses are also at risk, then I really suggest that you make use of the shelters that we have.”

Prime Minister Mottley also made it clear that officials will take a very dim view of people who want to go joyriding during the storm. She explained that such behaviour puts other people’s lives at risk.

“People who want to go joyriding will know that they will face the consequences, because you are placing other people's lives at risk to save yours, or to save others whose lives may be affected because of your reckless actions…Stay in your house please or stay in your shelter”.

Acting Director of Barbados Meteorological (MET) Services, Sabu Best indicated that rainfall accumulations of six to eight inches are forecast across Barbados today.

He said that an increase in winds is expected sometime after two or three o'clock in the early hours of Friday morning.

“And as we go into daybreak around six, seven or eight o’clock in the morning, winds should peak up to around tropical storm force winds. Afterwards, we expect to see an increase in rainfall, also an increase of wind in the early hours in the morning, and the deterioration in sea conditions should also follow suit.”

“The forecast intensity for Elsa by the time it reaches to the south of Barbados – maximum sustained winds should be around 60 miles per hour. There's no indication that Elsa would do any rapid intensification because of the rapid forward motion of the system, so that's a plus. But there's still the potential that Elsa would strengthen slowly as it moves towards the west,” he said. (TL)