Arima mayor Cagney Casimire is confident that adequate preparations have been made to mitigate the effects of a tropical storm as best as possible and is calling on the public to also do their part to prepare.
Speaking with Newsday at the stockpile yard of the Arima Borough Corporation on Tuesday, Casimire said he was pleased with the level of planning and organisation invested by members of the corporation.
Referring to a meeting on Tuesday to discuss the co-ordination of resources and activities, Casimire said shelters and councillors were ready for any incidents which may arise.
"We expect to have some hazardous conditions so in our meeting this morning with council we have put together and consolidated the plan on how we move forward today, tomorrow and the days ahead and are making sure the emergency centres will be stocked and that we have the provisions required there and making sure for tonight when this event occurs we will have the proper equipment to respond.
"We are prepared, we have our centres on alert, we have three schools on alert, we have councillors who are primed for particular schools so we have the management in place and with the management work we can weather any storm."
Casimire said in Arima there were several areas of concern that would be closely monitored by the Disaster Management Unit (DMU) of the Arima Borough Corporation which include a river at Wattley Circular, the Mausica R iver, O'Meara West and Concord Gardens.
He also warned first responders to also be cautious when carrying out disaster mitigation exercises.
"I'd like our first responders to be aware of their safety, we don't want to rescue our first responders, we want our first responders to be rescuers so today we went through that drill with councillors."
Newsday also spoke to councillor for Calvary district in Arima Jeniece Scott who said she was also pleased with the level of co-operation between the Arima Borough Corporation and related state agencies in preparing for the storm.
"So far we have liasied with the stakeholders in the Borough of Arima should families need groceries we have that in place.
"WASA has also made arrangements to ensure the tanks at the shelters are filled and we're also trucking through different communities to ensure they have a supply should anything arise."
Scott said shelters in Arima include the Mt Pleasant/ Calvary Community Centre, the Arima Boys' RC School and the Arima Girls' Government School.
She added that while she could not place a definite figure hundreds of sandbags were distributed to residents between Monday and Tuesday afternoon.
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