It is here once again. The Atlantic hurricane season officially begins today, Saturday, June 1. Based on predictions by forecasters at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), we may be in for a rough ride. NOAA warns that there is an 85 percent probability that the season will have an above-average number of storms and their May outlook included the highest number of named storms.
They predicted that 2024 will see 17 to 25 named storms, 8 to 13 hurricanes, and 4 to 7 major hurricanes of category 3 or higher.
An average season sees 14 named storms, seven hurricanes, and three major hurricanes. Several factors are behind such a busy season this year. According to the forecasters, they include near-record warm ocean temperatures in the Atlantic Ocean, the development of La Niña conditions in the Pacific Ocean, reduced Atlantic trade winds, and less wind shear.
While NOAA forecasters predict the number of named storms, they don’t predict landfalls, making it impossible to say where any of these storms will strike. Hence, authorities are stressing the importance of preparation. At a press conference on Friday, May 31, Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit warned that Dominicans should be prepared and not be like “the foolish virgins.”
He said focus should be placed on community and individual responsibilities.
“From a government standpoint, I can tell you that we are doing everything possible to ensure that the country is in a better place to withstand any natural disaster that comes our way,” Skerrit said.
The prime minister stated that the government has been putting things in place throughout the year in terms of preparation for the hurricane season.
“Training people, ensuring that the shelters are in order, in some cases, we are improving on refurbishment for some of these shelters, albeit some of them [are] private homes, reviewing our systems etc…” he remarked. “So from the government standpoint, we have things, as far as humanly possible, under control.”
Skerrit added that the Office of Disaster Management (ODM) and the Ministry of National Security have been going around to the communities and having engagements with stakeholders to sensitize them and alert them to what needs to be done.
“We will be utilizing, as we do every year, the NEP to cut overhangs, to unblock culverts, to unblock drains, unblock ravines,” he said. “But that is government doing all those things. And I think each business place, each community group, each non-government organization. and each household must pay attention to their surroundings and examine the surroundings to determine whether we have hazards, whether there is a tree over the house, and if that tree falls and that branch breaks, it can damage our homes. Do we have a ravine that is unblocked or a drain in front our house that we need to take out the leaves, the dry leaves in there? (Do) we check our windows and our doors, to strengthen them? Do we need some extra screws in our roof to hold the roof down?”
He pointed out that Dominicans need to examine on a family level that checklist to make sure individual households are ready.
“I believe from a housing standpoint, a hurricane shelter standpoint, we are in a much better circumstance now than we were in 2017 because of the several homes that have been constructed by the government and all of these homes have been built with resilience in mind and those homes are hurricane shelters,” Skerrit said.
The Atlantic hurricane season runs from June 1 to November 30.
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