The Tribune

By AVA TURNQUEST

Tribune Staff Reporter

aturnquest@tribunemedia.net

NEMA director Stephen Russell has urged all Bahamians to take necessary precautions to safeguard their homes as the disaster management agency braces for an active hurricane season.

Pointing to last week’s severe weather and subsequent flooding, Captain Russell warned residents in the capital not to underestimate the need for an action plan to “bounce back” after devastation.

Captain Russell said: “Start preparing for the upcoming hurricane season it is going to be a rough one. If the capital is impacted again that would be one of our major challenges, 260,000 persons live here and they all would need some form of assistance.

He said: “The rainy season is officially starting now and unfortunately this is how it is starting for us with a major storm on our capital, our center of population. The hurricane season is upon us over the next few weeks and it promises to be an above average season with 18 named storms and nine hurricanes and four major hurricanes. We know any one system can disrupt a community.”

“Over the past few years we have had to deal with successive hurricanes: Irene in 2011, Sandy in 2012, and into 2013 the capital has been faced with this major weather system. So it almost doesn’t give you time to recover. There are some things people must start doing now to prepare your homes.”

Some 15 teams canvassed the Pinewood community yesterday, according to Captain Russell, who said around 70 persons participated from NEMA, the Department of Social Services, the Ministry of Works, and the Royal Bahamas Defence Force.

Teams went door-to-door within the community to assess homes on an individual basis in an effort to identify common needs in the wake of the major thunderstorm and record downpours which deluged Nassau Tuesday night, wrecking property, closing schools and leaving motorists stranded.

Speaking to the media on a tour of the Pinewood community, Captain Russell said the teams will also move further east to other hard-hit areas such as Elizabeth Estates, Sir Lynden Pindling Estates, and Mount Tabor Estates.

He said: “If you know you’re on a low lying area you must have a plan of action as to how you’re going to respond or safe guard your furnitures and other appliances in your home. You must look at blocks to elevate them when you know warnings are given to expect serious floods.

“You cannot after storm after storm be suffering the same damage, the same loss, you must seek a way to elevate your goods.”

Captain Russell said: “Our homes are one of our most valuable assets, we must have a plan to secure it safeguard it and find a way to bounce back as quickly as you can after the event. Likewise our businesses, you must have a plan of action to bounce back immediately after a storm. When you don’t have a plan of action to bounce back it causes persons to slide further down the poverty line and that makes people miserable and that leads to other things.”