Anegadians could be asked to evacuate, topography similar to Abaco in Bahamas
Residents of the low-lying island of Anegada may be asked to evacuate if the projected path of Hurricane Jerry hits closer home.
Deputy Premier and Ninth District Representative Vincent Wheatley gave that indication during an interview with BVI News on Thursday.
He said: “Should the hurricane strengthen and approach Anegada, we cannot do a mandatory evacuation, but it would be a suggested evacuation.”
Wheatley said this is necessary bearing in mind the recent destruction of the Bahamian island of Abaco, which is similar in topography to Anegada. Abaco was ravaged by Hurricane Dorian weeks ago.
He explained: “We will use Abaco as an example, and if it is a very strong storm, we will be suggesting to please leave the island.”
In the meantime, Wheatley said shelters would be ready for use by members of the public.
He also said he, along with his teams on the sister island, would be working around the clock to ensure residents are safe during as Jerry — which is now a category two hurricane — passes.
“We are pretty much ready. We have resilience teams who are doing the pre-checks since the day before and there will also be a loudspeaker tomorrow (today, September 20) with more hurricane advisories in the Ninth District,” Wheatley said.
He added: “We encourage persons to buy enough water per household and make sure that they are as secure as they can be and prepare for the worse.”
He said the main concern for his district would have been the dialysis patients who must get regular treatment for their condition. However, Wheatley said they were able to change their dialysis appointments to Thursday instead of Friday in light of the circumstances.
Two years ago, on September 5, only half of the residents left the island even after being told to leave in light of the category-five hurricane, Irma.
Weather update
Meanwhile, in its latest weather advisory, the Department of Disaster Management (DDM) said the category-two strength Jerry is projected to pass north of the territory on Saturday. However, a high surf warning has already been issued for the BVI.
Jerry is likely to dump between four to six inches of rainfall on Anegada while the rest of the islands will see roughly one to three inches of rain.
“At 5 am, the centre of Hurricane Jerry was located near latitude 18.4 North, longitude 58.7 West. Jerry is moving toward the west-northwest near 16 mph. A west-northwest to northwest motion at a decreasing forward speed is expected over the next few days.”
As a category two hurricane, Jerry’s Maximum sustained winds remain near 105 mph with higher gusts.
“A gradual weakening trend is forecast to begin later today, but Jerry is expected to remain a hurricane during the next few days,” the DDM said.
Hurricane-force winds extend outward up to 25 miles from the centre, and tropical-storm-force winds extend outward up to 80 miles.
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Hope everything works out well for the people on Anegada. If you have to leave, please do so, SAFETY FIRST. if you can’t leave, please look out for each other and hanker down and be safe.
Please stop with the scar tactics.
I thought it was better be safe than sorry. This is not about scare tatics.This is about preparing ourselves in the event that such happens. Thank you to all the officals that is keeping us well informed.
Always better to be safe than sorry mate. Always better.
U Know Better do Bette… If U want to chance your life that is on U but do not ever discourage anyone. Plain and Simple!!!
Really? A darned Cat 1 and we are asking people to evacuate and comparing to Abaco? This is ridiculous now! We have been dealing with up to Cat 3 storms on an annual basis without all this hoopla. This storm is 150 miles north of even Anegada with barely 3 inches of rain expected. But government shut down and Anegada might be asked to evacuate? For what? I wonder what the daily cost of a government shut down is? And now this will become the norm everytime every little weather passes us? This is overkill.
It’s not a category 1 is a category 2
Barely a Cat 2 now and weakening to a Cat 1 by this afternoon.
Really. You do appreciate that our main admin building “is” in poor condition since hurricanes Irma and Maria? A Trpical Depression IMO is too much for our country at present. We have not rebuilt our BVI. You may have rebuilt but I urge you to walk around and be driven around and see for yourself before making this myopic comment.
If there was truly an eminent threat then I would agree. We won’t feel any impacts until this evening. That is the point. yes if the threat was more realistic then i would agree. But not a cat 1 passing over 150 miles north of even Anegada. So there is no reason for government’s full shutdown. IMO.
so sad to c almost these sunshine vip govt shut down the country just so 3 back to back to back and it seems as if it is the norm now.thank god the private owners have common sense to continue with buisness as usual set a fools
It is very sensible to be proactive especially when it’s a matter that involves peoples lives.
Too many rookies calling shots…Rookie dept governor, rookie minister and rookie premier
YOU F***ING FOOL.BUT GET THIS OR ARE YOU THAT STUPID. THOSE TO MANY ROOKIES CALLING THE SHOTS, THEY ARE DOING ONE HELL OF A GOOD JOB KEEPING US INFORMED ON EVERY ASPECT OF WHAT IS GOING ON WITH THE HURRICANE. NO ONE IS FEELING YOU TODAY.
I am afraid that if you were following this storm closely, you would know that we are not in danger. It could turn right, but not left. We are not being accurately informed, probably because there seems not to be anyone in Government who understands tropical systems. Have a nice day, which is what it is.
Better to err on the side of caution. Monies lost because of a day of shutdown cannot compare to lives lost in a natural disaster. The government made the right call in my opinion
LMAO at lives lost! That is funny. A cat 1 passing tonight at over 150 miles away from us, will result in lives lost during the day so government needs to shut down. Yup! makes sense to me. I am going to put on a condomn every morning I wake up and wear it all day, just in case I get some sex. Yup! makes sense to me.
Funny ? ???
S**t funny bad????????
I THINK YOU SHOULD PLEASE STOP SHOWING THE HIGH VOLUME OF IGNORANCE THAT YOU ARE SHOWING. IF YOU DONT WANT TO LEAVE THEN DON’T,NO ONE CAN OR MAKE YOU LEAVE.
All Govt schools shut down, Govt business shut down on a Friday for what reason. The hurricane not even close. Who makes these stupid decisions? They need to be replaced
Tough to leave without ferries and planes. British submarines, maybe ?
It is a CAT 2 now and close enough to a 3. Safety girst!
People on the sister islands will never take an evacuation seriously and as a first option until the place they are going to is as safe as their home. Road town can not handle climate changes. It rains for 15mins it floods. It blows for 2 hours roofs fly away. Power off for 1 hr people looting and shooting. It is not safe, it is not better. Tortola is nowhere to go to be safe in the face of disaster. And that is the gods honest truth. Prove me wrong
In hindsight,
The Lord knows why Irma steered towards Tortola and not Anegada. It may have been very similar to what happened in the Bahamas with the storm surge sweeping the island. Would the barrier reef have protected them? Probably not. Everyone always has a lot to say after the fact. I agree with being cautious. If it doesn’t come oh well, you still live. If it comes and you aren’t prepared then what….??
one mortal soul would have survived on Anegada. Every last living being and animal would be dead and or washed into the ocean and gone missing. That is fact!
People on the sister islands will never take an evacuation seriously and as a first option until the place they are going to is as safe as their home. Road town can not handle climate changes. It rains for 15mins it floods. It blows for 2 hours roofs fly away. Power off for 1 hr people looting and shooting. It is not safe, it is not better. Tortola is nowhere to go to be safe in the face of disaster. And that is the gods honest truth. Prove me wrong
Must never of heard about storm surge. Dont want to come Tortola fine. You can seek higher ground in VG. Dont be a statistic for being as stuborn as a Jack@$$. A lot of them on Abaco paid the ultimate price for same behaviour.
YOU CANNOT RIDE OUT A STORM SURGE ON A SAND BAR.
There is actually some science to all of this, and it seems many are ignoring it. The storm is actually weakening and will not re-strengthen until it has passed us. There will not be any noticeable surge, as we are on the South side of the storm and it’s not a big storm. We are way out of the range of statistical inaccuracy. The storm track has been predicted with a high level of agreement among the models, because the steering currents are well established, and, to some extent, contributed to by Humberto, which behaved as predicted. All of this is the opposite of the conditions surrounding Dorian, when it passed us and surprised everyone, almost none of whom prepared. We are now reacting to a non-event. There is a difference between an abundance of caution, which is good, and crying wolf, which hurts future credibility. And there is a difference between irrational fear and ignorance. People in the BVI, which is very vulnerable to tropical systems, seem to abdicate their responsibility to learn about these systems so that they can react and discuss rationally, and depend on the DDM to tell them what to do, instead. That would be fine if the DDM (and Government) spent some money on hiring an actual meteorologist, with a specialty in Tropical weather (since that is where we live), at least during the summer, but I have never heard it discussed. Instead, we get dribbles of info from Antigua, moderated by who knows whom, By the time it sifts down to us through the media or social media, it has been striped of the details that might make it worthwhile. Sorry.This day has been wasted.
You should all go to NOAA.COM for the best information. Is updated every few hours.
Weather Underground is pretty good too. Precaution is good but they completely jumped the gun by closing down the government because we were not even under a Tropical Storm Watch.
If DDM and respective personnel decide to resort to the old way of preparing for hurricanes, please do not complain about late notice just as with Irma.
Them here quickly forget when Maria strengthen from storm up to cat 5 hurricane in a short space of time and caught Nature Island off guard. Now, them there willing to over prepare for any storm no matter what. You hear them complaining? No.
Prior to Irma, DDM was using those very same old strategies that many are complaining begging them to adopt.
It is not as random as you suggest. Certain storms are forecast, for various reasons, with a high degree of confidence, and others low with others somewhere inbetween. Understanding the factors that contribute to a storm, its strength, and its track, help us understand which ones to be especially wary of, and which are more predictable. Sometimes, the forecast can err only in one direction, and at other times it can err in any direction. Knowing this is useful. The marine industry in the BVI is particularly vulnerable to tropical systems, but I don’t know of a person who pays any attention to what the DDM has to say, because there is no nuance. The National Hurricane Center is the best place to start. Wunderground can be helpful. Some of us pay for specialized forecasts and analysis, which help interpret all of this for us, and educate us, as well. Chris Parker’s weather service is a good example. Even depictions of models such as windguru.com or windy.com are very useful. I don’t think the DDM uses any of this, or knows how to use them. Unfortunately. As important as weather is, for the BVI, and especially during Hurricane Season, it is unfathomable to me why the Government doesn’t have a first class meteorologist who is a specialist in tropical systems, on staff.