Barbados wa yesterday spared any ravages of Tropical Storm Chantal as the weather system passed north of the island, but 21 people took no chances as they sought refuge in hurricane shelters.
Just around 11 a.m. yesterday, the Barbados Meteorological Services issued its last advisory on the storm, which around 8 a.m. had passed fewer than 50 miles to the north of Barbados, and discontinued the tropical storm warning for the island.
People who had turned to the shelters on Monday night and yesterday morning returned to their homes by midday.
They had been housed at a number of schools: Combermere, St Michael; Lester Vaughan, St Thomas; St Christopher and Arthur Smith in Christ Church; Hillaby-Turner’s Hall, St Andrew, Roland Edwards Primary and Gordon Greenidge, in St Peter, and Hilda Skeene, St Philip.
Marcia Darlington, who sought shelter at Combermere, said her house at Accommodation Road, St Michael, had been destroyed by Tropical Storm Tomas in October 2010 and had not been repaired.
“Right now I’m staying some place else, but it is not safe, so I said it made no sense staying where it is not safe. So I came up to this shelter where it is safe,” she remarked, adding that she had a peaceful night at the school.
Yesterday morning most of the streets remained relatively free of traffic until the all-clear was given shortly after 11 a.m. by Minister of Home Affairs Adriel Brathwaite. By early yesterday afternoon the Transport Board had resumed a limited bus service as had the privately-owned mini-buses.
Full operations resumed at the Grantley Adams International Airport soon after midday.
Deputy director of the Department of Emergency Management, Kerry Hinds, said it had not received any major reports of damage caused by either wind or rain.
“I think we would have done a very good job of keeping persons continuously informed. The public knew at every step of the way where we were as it related to the operations, as it related to the system. So going forward we would hope to continue in that same way so that the public knows what is going on,” she said.
Acting director of the Meteorological Services, Hampden Lovell, said: “. . . I am asking the people to listen to professionals. It is not an exact science and I know that some people complain that we say a system is coming and nothing happens. But we would rather close the country and nothing happens than to let the country open and people are caught off guard.”
Some Barbadians felt that the shutdown of the country was premature and blasted the local meteorological officials on the social media.
