CASTRIES, St Lucia – Prime Minister Dr Kenny Anthony says the damage unleashed by a low-level trough over the Christmas holidays has been extensive and severe, resulting in a further setback for the country.
“The road ahead will be difficult and hard especially in the face of the economic challenges facing our country,” he told a news conference yesterday.
“But we have handled this disaster magnificently, largely on our own efforts with few resources. We have worked together, mourned together, and supported each other. It is that kind of spirit we must invoke to face the future.”
Anthony said many people had lost all of their belongings to the floodwaters that had also been blamed for the deaths of six people.
“We now know that some ten homes were destroyed by the raging floods. Several vehicles were damaged by flooding, some beyond repair,” he said, adding that agriculture had suffered badly, with initial estimates pointing to a 30 to 40 per cent damage to banana fields, 90 per cent to vegetables, and five per cent damage to tree crops.
Additionally, 90 per cent of all ponds suffered varying degrees of siltation, Anthony said, adding that his administration had set itself five priorities in the aftermath of the damage caused by the weather system.
He praised Caribbean countries and other friendly countries for coming to the assistance of the island.
“We often describe the Caribbean as a family. There was no better illustration of this than the support which we received from our neighbours. Nearly every Head of Government contacted me to express condolences and to offer support and assistance to our island.
“While others wanted estimates, our Caribbean family came to our support immediately, without being prompted,” he said, noting that without asking, the Kamla Persad Bissessar administration in Trinidad and Tobago had been the first to respond to the plight of St Lucia.
He said the St Kitts-Nevis government had made an EC$1 million donation to the island and that the Government of Barbados had offered water and any other assistance St Lucia would require.
“Later this week, we are expecting supplies by boat from the governments of Suriname and Guyana.
“Yesterday, the Prime minister of Antigua and Barbuda and current chairman of the OECS Authority, Baldwin Spencer, visited St Lucia to see the damage for himself.”
Anthony said Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro had expressed “feelings of brotherhood and solidarity and reiterated a commitment to us and indeed the peoples of the
