BVI RED CROSS URGES RESIDENTS AND BUSINESSES TO BE PREPARED AHEAD OF “ABOVE AVERAGE” HURRICANE SEASON

The BVI Red Cross Association is urging all residents and businesses to be prepared ahead of the busy predicted 2021 Atlantic Hurricane Season which officially commences from today Tuesday June 1.

According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) this year’s hurricane season, which runs through November 30, is predicted to yield 13 to 20 named storms, with 6 to 10 possible hurricanes and 3 to 5 major hurricanes.

Speaking to 284 Media on Tuesday, Director of the BVI Red Cross Association Stacy Lloyd urged the BVI community to start their preparedness efforts, as a busy season prediction comes with expectations of possible landslides and flooding.

“Making sure that you have an emergency go bag ready that is suitable for your family and for you, meaning that the emergency go bag will have what you and your family would need; your first aid kits make sure you have that, and your Emergency Evacuation Plan. Ensure that document is updated and go over it with your family so that they know what to do in the event of a hurricane or a tropical storm, thunder storm etcetera,” Lloyd stated.

She added, “We just want to urge people to have food, water and other basic necessities at hand, and to make sure that you have all of your personal protective equipment because we are still going through a pandemic.”

BVI Red Cross ramping up their preparedness efforts

The Red Cross Director also said that her organisation has commenced mobilising and ramping up their efforts, increasing both volunteer and staff capacity across the territory to prepare for the busy season.

“For us here at the BVI Red Cross, we are ramping up our preparedness efforts particularly with vulnerable people – women, children, people living with disabilities, the elderly folks – and we are supporting them, again providing them with education material on what to do in the event of a hurricane and making sure that they are informed about what’s going on,” she said.

“We’ve already prepositioned our emergency stocks across the territory, so on all of the islands we are already have our satellite containers that are staffed with everything you would need in the event that a hurricane was to come and you need immediate relief, we have everything in these different containers to provide relief to individuals, for up to 300 households,” she further explained.

The BVI was fortunate to have not experienced any major hurricanes in the 2020 Atlantic Hurricane Season. However, the community is well aware of the dangers associated with hurricanes, following the scars left behind from the 2017 hurricanes of Irma and Maria, which cost the BVI community millions of dollars in damages.