BVI: Preparation underway ahead of the Atlantic Hurricane Season

The British Virgin Islands is actively preparing for the 2020 Atlantic Hurricane season which will begin on June 1.

Premier Fahie in a recent statement said that officers throughout the public service have been hard at work updating their plans and procedures, to ensure that the territory is prepared to face weather-related hazards.

He also urged proprietors to ensure that their establishments have been fortified ahead of the start of the hurricane season.

According to the Premier, the team at the Public Works Department is already inspecting potential shelters and taking steps to make an improvement to its infrastructure where needed.

He said: “We are also taking the time to encourage and remind the private sector businesses that while they operate in this new regular with COVID-19, that they also remain in a heightened state of preparedness for the upcoming season.”

Meanwhile, Acting Director of Disaster Management Dr Evangeline Inniss-Springer gave the assurance that regional disaster risk managers have been reinforcing the need to work in a constantly-changing multi-hazard environment.

She issued a statement which said: “We can see this is happening right now with many of our Caribbean brothers and sisters simultaneously needing to respond to earthquakes, drought and a global pandemic. There is a recognition that we all must work to prepare for more than one hazard at once.”

Researchers have so far predicted 16 named tropical storms this year.