Dominica: As Tropical Storm Bret approaches the Caribbean Sea and countries, the Prime Minister of the Commonwealth of Dominica, Dr Roosevelt Skerrit, has addressed the issue and updated the nation on the current situation during a press briefing held yesterday on June 22, 2023, at 8:30 am. Prime Minister advised the residents and citizens of the country to brace themselves for the possible impacts.
As per the press briefing, Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit reached out to his fellow Dominicans and shared recent updates regarding Tropical Strom Bret and its possible effects. It has been noted that the Strom Watch has now converted into Storm Warning, which was issued at 11 pm in night on June 21, 2023, as it advances towards the island.
While delivering his opening remarks, PM Skerrit extended greetings to the general public and attendees at the briefing. He stated that the government of Dominica had announced proactive and preventive measures in order to safeguard the country from Bret’s impacts. “We met yesterday at 5 pm to receive reports from the various heads of the respective committees under the National Emergency Planning Organization,” he added.
Furthermore, he said that the Government of Dominica has been putting efforts to reduce and prevent the possible effects that can be caused by tropical storm Bret.
In this context, he stated, “We believe from the government standpoint in respect to health, national security and shelters, we are in a good position.” Meanwhile, he also stressed that no system and preventive actions are perfect, and they must keep updating it as time passes.
In addition, the Prime Minister of Dominica expressed his optimism regarding the preparations for the storm and stated, “I feel much more comfortable with our preparations this year than last year in terms of our planning.”
The reports also mentioned that the forecast tracks would keep monitoring the weather conditions for Friday. He noted that the workplaces were closed from 12 pm yesterday, June 22, to make the residents stay home and make final preparations.
Due to climate change and changing environmental conditions, the Prime Minister emphasised that tropical storms should be taken very seriously, particularly in these regions and our country.
He also mentioned that we should not wait for it to become a hurricane to impose worse impacts, but we must act now. PM Skerrit stated that the government of Dominica have been taking essential steps and actions to ensure the safety of the people, which should be our priority.
“The actions needed to be taken at all levels from top to bottom on individual levels to make sure that the preparations are intact for this hurricane season,” said the PM. It was also said that the government of Dominica had activated all the systems.
Moreover, he ensured the public that every state agency is positioned at different places in the country to perform rescue or search operations. “Let us not be anxious, let us be calm, let us be level-headed,” he concluded.
As per the recent updates, Ithoma James, Senior Met Officer, also updated on Tropical Storm Bret’s recently-tracked locations. He stated that the Bret was located at a latitude of 15.4 degrees North and a longitude of 60.4 degrees West at about 1643 miles of Southeast of Dominica. It is moving at about 60 mph (miles per hour) and is predicted to pass slightly further away from Dominica as per the current location.
