The Tribune

By CELESTE NIXON

Tribune Staff Reporter

cnixon@tribunemedia.net

THE government announced it will re-establish a meteorological office on Grand Bahama to guard against a repeat of the circumstances that lead to the death of three people on that island in 2010.

During her contribution in the House of Assembly yesterday, Minister for Transport and Aviation Glenys Hanna-Martin announced the Bahamas Meteorological Department is setting up a unit in Grand Bahama in an effort to keep Bahamians informed about weather developments and provide sufficient warning ahead of natural disasters.

She said: “I am pleased to say that in accordance with our commitment to the Bahamian people as stated in the Charter for Governance, the Bahamas government will fully establish and adequately man a Grand Bahama unit of the Bahamas Meteorological Department.

“It is our objective that the Bahamian people will be adequately informed and forewarned so that all reasonable steps are taken to protect life and property”

Mrs Hanna-Martin explained that the Freeport Weather Service closed in December 2009 under the previous administration, and the department came under scrutiny just three months later when a series of tornadoes hit Grand Bahama killing three and injuring six others.

“While the government-run Bahamas Meteorological Department was responsible then and continues today to be responsible for advisory and other services for the entire archipelago, the Freeport Weather Service had played a specific and critical role over the years in the education, alert and advisory capacity for the inhabitants of that island,” she said.

“In the case of that deadly tornado of March 2010, a senior Met Department official was reported to have conceded,” Mrs Hanna-Martin said, “that the closure of the Freeport Weather Service in 2009 meant that the level of communication which existed before forecasters and Grand Bahama news stations was severely diminished.”

Mrs Hanna-Martin said the new Grand Bahama office will aid in the provision of “complete and accurate” weather coverage, observations and forecasts for the entire Bahamas.

Additionally, she said, meteorological observers will work as tornado spotters and will be the first stage of an expansion plan for the department which will see human observers on each of the Family Islands to eliminate the need for automatic weather observing stations that are very costly to maintain.

“Mr Speaker, this policy initiative is part and parcel of a larger policy commitment by the Progressive Liberal Party government to expanding quality meteorological services throughout our archipelago and thereby so far as possible contributes to the improved quality of life for our people,” she said.

Glenys Hanna-Martin in the House yesterday. Photo: Felip� Major/Tribune Staff