
Dominica is expected to experience heavy and prolonged rainfall from a weather system that is presently approaching the island chain.
Ithoma James, Senior Met Officer at the Dominica Meteorological Service, said the system is expected to be a major rainfall event for the island.
“…As such we are seeing some rainfall that could be significant from tonight and into the early morning on Tuesday,” he said on state-owned DBS Radio.
“It could be prolonged and last through most of the day on Tuesday also.”
He said that because of the rainfall expected the Met Office is planning to issue a Flood Watch which could be upgraded to a Flood Warning if projections for rainfall continue to hold.
“As we know this is a forecast and sometimes the forecast can be uncertain as to where and when the rain will take place,” James explained.
“The rainfall is notoriously more difficult to forecast than the wind speeds at times.”
He stated that the Flood Watch will be issued during the course of the day on Monday which will be valid for approximately 24 hours.
James said based on current projections, the center of the system will pass 150 miles north of Dominica.
Meanwhile, Fitzroy Pascal, Disaster Management Coordinator, has told residents of Dominica to make sure that preparedness activities are well advanced.
“Not only for this weather system but any other adverse weather events in the future,” he said.
“As we are all aware, we are fast approaching the peak of the 2024 Atlantic Hurricane Season, about September 10, less than a month away, where heightened activity can be expected. By now, residents should be in a state of preparedness or readiness and being mindful of potential impacts associated with the passage of this system.”
He pointed out that since the approaching weather system will likely be a rainfall event for Dominica, people living near waterways should be on the alert and be ready to move to safety as required.
“So it is our responsibility to be prepared at an individual level, a family level, and the community level,” Pascal stated.
The US National Hurricane Centre (NHC) has projected that the system will become a tropical storm by Tuesday night. On the forecast track, it is expected to move across portions of the Leeward Islands late Monday or early Tuesday and then approach the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico.
Although the system has not developed into a Tropical Storm, as of early Monday afternoon, Tropical Storm Warnings were in effect for St. Kitts, Nevis, Montserrat, Antigua, Barbuda, and Anguilla, Guadeloupe, St. Martin and St. Barthelemy, Sint Maarten, British Virgin Islands, U.S. Virgin Islands, and Puerto Rico.
The NHC Tropical projected that storm conditions are expected in the warning areas for the Leeward Islands beginning late Monday or early Tuesday. Tropical storm conditions are expected to begin spreading over the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico on Tuesday night or early Wednesday.
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