HMC gearing up for 2025 hurricane season

Western Bureau:

With the 2025 hurricane season just weeks away, Lucea Mayor Sheridan Samuels says the Hanover Municipal Corporation (HMC) is in an advanced state of readiness as through the collaborative efforts of the parish’s fire department, health department, roads and works department, and disaster preparedness committee, all of its 55 shelters have been examined and declared ready.

According to Samuels, who is also the chairman of the HMC, the current situation marks the earliest that the corporation’s parish disaster preparedness team has ever attained such a high level of readiness ahead of any hurricane season. Each year, the hurricane season starts on June 1 and ends on November 30.

“We have completed the inspection of our 55 priority shelters across the parish, which was done by a team comprising representatives of the Hanover Fire Department, the health department, the roads and works department, and the parish disaster coordinator,” Samuels said during last Thursday’s monthly meeting of the HMC. “It is the earliest in recent times that this exercise has been completed.”

According to Samuels, the decision to start hurricane preparation at such an early stage was due to the realisation that with the current climate-change situation, the weather can be unpredictable, which means that extreme weather could take the parish by surprise if preparations are not made ahead of time.

Samuels further revealed that the HMC team has been checking on several critical drains across the parish with a view to undertaking urgent cleaning, which he considers critical to preventing flooding in flood-prone areas.

“We have prepared the necessary estimates for work on those drains, and we have engaged the Ministry of Local Government to assist us with special funding to undertake this exercise,” said Samuels.

Samuels recently went public with a complaint that the HMC has not been getting the support of the local government ministry as it relates to approving funds from the Special Grant for Repairs (SGR) for projects dating back to the passage of Hurricane Beryl in 2024. He said there is currently more than J$1 million in the corporation’s SGRs.

While the HMC has passed the parish’s shelter as ready, the Hanover Health Department said it would continue to monitor the shelters through follow-up visits to ensure that the work plans they have implemented remain in a state of readiness should the need for them arise.

Samuels further explained that the HMC’s disaster coordinator would continue to embark on a parish-wide series of public-sensitisation campaigns to have residents properly educated on disaster preparedness. He also made a special appeal to businesses and private enterprises in the parish to contact the parish disaster coordinator so that they, too, can be part of the sensitisation programme.

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