THE Tobago Emergency Management Agency (TEMA) warned on June 30 that the island would more than likely require international help to rehabilitate itself after the passage of Hurricane Beryl.
Beryl was expected to hit islands in the southern windwards – Tobago, Grenada, St Vincent and Barbados – as a category four hurricane around midnight.
The Trinidad and Tobago Met Office said in a release around noon on June 30 that Beryl had been upgraded to a category four hurricane.
Around 8 am on June 30, the office announced that Tobago had been put on hurricane warning.
It said it was closely monitoring the hurricane as it moved across the Tropical Atlantic. At that time, it said the system was located near 10.6 degrees N latitude 53.9 degrees W longitude, approximately 740km east of Tobago.
But Beryl, packing winds of more than 130km/hr, has intensified and there is a strong possibility that the system may hit Tobago as a category five hurricane.
During a news conference at Fairfield Complex, Bacolet, hosted by THA Chief Secretary Farley Augustine, TEMA director Allan Stewart said Beryl’s impact on the island could be catastrophic.
“This event started as a category three event, which means that it exceeds the capacity of the Tobago House of Assembly. It also will exceed the capacity of the national government and therefore, international relief will become an imperative,” he said.
Stewart said Tobagonians must prepare themselves for a 72-hour ordeal, in the first instance.
“Given that scenario, it means therefore that you have to pay attention to how you manage your resources going forward and how you move resources to the island.”
Alluding to his experiences in managing the effects of the February 7 oil spill, he said the challenges of moving resources to the island are real.
Stewart said during discussions with CEO of the Office of Disaster Preparedness and Management Rodney Smart, they spoke about pre-positioning not just equipment but human resources.
“We expect that through the meetings that were held at executive level in Port of Spain, that we will see troops from the engineering battalion arriving at the first hour that we are able to make a safe sailing to Tobago to provide relief.
“However, based on our incident action plan, one of the key objectives is to do rapid assessment and also to provide relief where it is necessary. We understand exactly what is the magnitude of this impact and, therefore, we ask persons to take this extremely seriously.”
He said many people of this generation have never experienced such a natural phenomenon.
Earlier, Carolyn De Coteau, meteorological officer 2, said Tobago was poised for a direct hit.
“Just after midday, Hurricane Beryl became a category four hurricane, which means that we can expect maximum sustained winds of up to 215km/h,” she said, adding that before it makes landfall, the island would experience gust fronts and strong winds.
The system’s impact on Tobago, De Coteau said, would be characterised by significant rainfall, storm surg
