By Sue-Ann Wayow
BARBADOS and St Lucia suffered the brunt of Tropical Storm Elsa that morphed into a Hurricane Category 1 becoming the first hurricane of the 2021 Atlantic season.
The Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA) in its island report stated that there was 826 reports in Barbados of damage and one report of death in St Lucia.
Of those reports:
- 586 were roof damage;
- 20 houses damaged;
- 74 reports of fallen trees;
- 27 fallen poles and wires; and
- four gas leaks.
About 50% electricity was restored across Barbados over the weekend with efforts concentrated on the north of the island in the parish of St Phillip.
In St Lucia, one person died in Soufriere. There wasdamage to buildings including three Government ones by wind and significant damages to roofs.
Electricity and telecommunication were also disrupted and there was a 60% disruption in the water supply, CDEMA stated.
Dominica reported some fallen trees and poles. Jamaica, the Cayman Islands and St Vincent and the Grenadines were also placed on high alert.
Shara Graham, the Barbados Coordinator for the group T&T Citizens Overseas based at Rockley Christ Church, told AZPNews.com that while there were serious effects, thankfully it was not the worst.
On Friday she told AZPNews.com, “From my end we are okay. It is just overcast right now. Have some leaves around but that’s about it for me. I know some students said there were some flooding but they were okay. The majority of us have no electricity and some have lost water.”
Graham added, “However, there are some who haven’t been as fortunate and lost their roofs, their houses were destroyed, fallen trees have damaged cars and made certain road impassable.”
On Tuesday, she said electricity was still not restored in some areas.
She added, “Some are not managing well mentally. Covid, lockdown, vaccine, ash (from the volcanic eruption of La Soufriere), bad weather and poor utilities.”
Elsa is heading towards Key West in Florida and the US National Hurricane Centre also predicted that a couple of tornados are possible for parts of Florida on Tuesday and Wednesday.
