The 2018 Atlantic Hurricane season began on Friday with the Barbados-based Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA) urging regional countries to undertake all necessary measures to ensure safety to their populations.
Scientists reviews forecast
Top scientists with the Colorado State University say the season may not be as dangerous as earlier predicted and that a near-average season is likely, with 14 named storms, of which six could become hurricanes.
A tropical storm becomes a hurricane when its wind speed reaches 74 miles per hour (mph).
The scientists said the reason for the revised predictions is that seawater in the eastern Atlantic Ocean is unusually cold for this time of year. Moreover, a weak El Niño could also form later in the year, which tends to suppress Atlantic hurricane development.
Preparations urged nonetheless
But CDEMA executive director, Ronald Jackson, speaking at a news conference, said regional countries, particularly those that were several impacted by Hurricanes Irma and Maria when they passed through the Lesser Antilles last September, should take all necessary precautions to save life and limb.
All hazards approach
He said CDEMA and other stakeholders had staged an event late last month “sharpening our capacities for dealing with disaster issues,” acknowledging that “there’s work to be done. “The key messages that I think we need to take away from our readiness for the hurricane season is that CDEMA promotes an all hazards approach and so our efforts towards readiness is not focused only on the hurricane season but across the entire hazard spectrum that affects the Caribbean region.
“We want our member states and citizens to be able to recognize that we are exposed not only to hurricanes…but there are a number of other challenges and threats that we are grappling with as a region.”
Jackson said it was necessary for the region to continue to strengthen its capacity to deal with such disasters, adding “we remain very confident in the regional response mechanism as vehicle for providing coordination support to member states”.
He said it has been tried tested and proven “and it has been hailed as a piece of innovation, not only in the Caribbean but across the globe and we have confidence in it and its partners at the regional level.”
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