The hurricane season starts today and Executive Director of the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Association Jeremy Collymore is warning that the idea of Barbados being seen as a seasonal country “is being thrown out window”.
Collymore, speaking at CDEMA’s headquarters during a press conference today to give an update of challenges, accomplishments and issues surrounding the organization, said recent hazards had suggested that the country had to be ready 24/7 in the event that any disasters or extreme events occurred.
“Extreme events and severe weather events are issues that now have to be dealt with more directly in our contingency planning arrangement and we should expect that we can have storms and associated rainfall that can be more devastating” he added.
Collymore said this year’s 2011 season is expected to be an above average year, with 17 storms predicted. Nine of those he said are expected to be hurricanes and five to be major events. (CT)
