The Tribune

By RICARDO WELLS

Tribune Staff Reporter

rwells@tribunemedia.net

STORM preparation shifted into high gear across New Providence on Thursday as forecasters have now predicted a direct hit by Tropical Storm Erika this weekend.

Scores of shoppers flocked to stores island-wide, looking to complete their storm preparation.

Operators at Super Value, the country’s largest food store chain, said there has been a steady increase in customers as the week has progressed.

Rupert Roberts, the chain’s owner, said Super Value is “fully prepared” to address the influx of shoppers expected as the storm moves closer.

“We keep a $10m inventory of hard goods, and everyday we have 15 containers coming in. We are fully prepared for the load we need to serve this weekend.

“As usual, this time of year we prepare our stores to address what we believe would be an increase in the number of customers we usually see,” said Mr Roberts.

He added that many of the chain’s stores have already increased their stocks of non-perishable goods.

“The hard goods – spaghetti, tuna fish, corn beef, the usual canned goods Bahamians stock up on during storm season – we have them en route to be put out in the individual stores,” he said.

When The Tribune visited Super Value’s Golden Gates location around noon, employees could be seen preparing extra shelving areas for canned goods in the aisles.

Similar scenes, Mr Roberts said were playing out at stores across the island.

Chelsea’s Choice, one of New Providence’s largest water producers, experienced a surge in demand for drinking water supplies over the last 48 hours.

The plant’s operations manager Aaron Wilson explained that the company has boosted output to offset demand ahead of the storm.

“Anytime we get a storm, we expect more persons to come in, and we expect those persons to get more bottles than they usually do,” he said.

The plant has increased it load output by 1,500 five-gallon bottles per load.

On Wednesday and Thursday, long lines extended from the company’s Abundant Life Road property, a block over to the corridor of the East West Highway thoroughfare.

One Aquapure water depot operator told The Tribune on Thursday that while the brand has not seen major numbers at its Bernard Road site, production and output numbers have increased across the board.

Purity Bakery has also ramped up production in recent days. General Manager Kimani Smith said as expected, Bahamians have in some cases doubled their demand for bread in preparation for this weekend’s storm.

“Bahamians have an insatiable demand for bread, our job is to feed that demand,” said Mr Smith.

The Market Street bakery has increased its supplies to stores island-wide. In addition to that, the bakery has adjusted schedules to guarantee that the increased production can be sustained throughout Saturday evening.

On Thursday, a tropical storm watch was in effect for the southeast Bahamas, including Inagua, Mayaguana, Acklins, Crooked Island and Ragged Island. A tropical storm watch means that storm conditions will be experienced within 48 hours.

A tropical storm alert was in effect on Thursday for the Central Bahamas: Long Island, Cat Island, Exuma, San Salvador and Rum Cay. A tropical storm alert means that storm conditions can be experienced within 60 hours.

On Thursday, Erika was moving toward the west near 16 miles per hour. The storm was expected to turn toward the west-northwest and continue on this path for the next 48 hours. On this track, the centre of the storm will move near the Turks and Caicos and the southeast Bahamas early Saturday morning, according to NEMA.

The storm is expected to hit New Providence on Sunday.

The storm’s maximum sustained winds are near 50 miles per hour with higher gusts. Erika is expected to dump three to five inches of rain across the southeast Bahamas.

Weather associated with Erika hit parts of the Lesser Antilles and the Eastern Caribbean yesterday causing severe flooding in many areas.

That flooding has been blamed for four deaths in the Caribbean island of Dominica. According to reports, Erika dumped 15 inches of rain on the island between Wednesday and Thursday.

After skirting through the Bahamas, the storm is expected to approach the United States as a category one hurricane.