St Kitts-Nevis: Stay cautious during hurricane season

Residents of St Kitts and Nevis are being advised to keep informed about the weather after flash flooding caused by heavy downpours caught many by surprise.

Information from the St Kitts Meteorological Service show 83.5mm (3.29 inches) of rain fell between Friday and Saturday, and tapered off to 17.7mm (0.70 inches) between Sunday and Monday.

This warning comes ahead of tropical wave that will affect the federation – and wider eastern Caribbean – over the next 24 hours, according to Elmo Burke, senior meteorological officer.

Carl Herbert, the country’s national disaster coordinator, stressed that vigilance is important as there are still six more weeks of the 2017 Atlantic Hurricane season.

“Do not park in ghauts and watercourses, as this can be detrimental to all concerned,” he said.

“This comes to mind especially [given] the rains we had on the weekend, which resulted in many of the ghauts flowing very heavily.”

The national disaster coordinator implored residents to remain in a state of readiness.

“Monitor the information locally for weather information and make certain that you have your emergency supplies in place on a continuous basis throughout the season.”

So far this year the Atlantic has see 15 named storms and 10 hurricanes, of which six were ‘major’ – category three or stronger.