Acting Prime Minister Santia Bradshaw and Attorney General Dale Marshall have both advised Barbadians to make their way home as the island prepares for inclement weather associated with a tropical wave.
Bradshaw said the public sector would close at 3:30 p.m. and had alerted head of the Barbados Private Sector Association Trisha Tannis so that sector could make its own arrangements. Public transportation will be available up to 6:30 p.m.
“At this stage there is no cause for panic, but we certainly believe that given the events of last year with Hurricane Elsa and the unpredictability of our freak storms and certainly the change in the climate, that it is important that we ask Barbadians to prepare,” Bradshaw said.
“And out of an abundance of caution, we are asking you as well to be guided accordingly and to head towards your homes and just await further updates over the course of the next couple of hours.”
Speaking in the House of Assembly on Tuesday just after 3 p.m. when the sitting was brought to a premature end, Marshall also advised residents to be prepared.
“We are already experiencing a few power outages. We are expecting high gusts, rain and so on during the course of the evening. As a result of that, we have taken the decision to close the public service at 3:30 today and I am informed that buses will stop running at 6:30,” the AG said.
“We urge Barbadians to make their way home safely and of course, we want to ensure that our hatches are battened down and that we treat this as preparation for hurricane season, predictions of which do suggest it will be fairly active.”
The House debated and approved the Debt Conversion (Counter-Guarantee) Bill which was moved by Minister in the Ministry of Finance, Ryan Straughn.
The sitting was brought to an end just after 3 p.m. and House was adjourned until July 5 at 10 a.m.
Earlier, the Barbados Meteorological Services said the system was tracking westward near 23 mph (37km/h), but would pass “well south of Barbados”. (PR/SAT)
