Battered Caribbean prepares for hurricanes amid pandemic

CARIBBEAN ISLANDS have rarely been so vulnerable as an unusually active hurricane season threatens a region still recovering from recent storms as it fights a worsening drought and a pandemic that has drained budgets and muddled preparations.

“It is crazy,” said Iram Lewis, Bahamian minister for disaster preparedness, management and reconstruction. “No one could have imagined this.”

An estimated three to six major hurricanes could form this year as part of a total of 13 to 19 named storms that are forecast for the June 1 to November 30 season, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. An average season generates 12 named storms with three major hurricanes.

The dire forecast comes at a particularly trying time for the Caribbean. Thousands of people overall lost their homes in southern Puerto Rico because of recent strong earthquakes and in the northern Bahamas because of Hurricane Dorian, which hit September 2019 as a Category 5 storm, killing an estimated 70 people and leaving hundreds missing. The demolition on both islands hadn’t even started in some areas when the pandemic hit and lockdowns ensued, causing billions of dollars in economic losses in one of the world’s most tourism-dependent regions.

As a result, governments are struggling more than ever to prepare for a season that started early: Tropical Storm Arthur formed in mid-May and dropped rain on Dorian-battered islands in The Bahamas before heading out to sea.

DELAYED

The response to COVID-19 has dried up government funds and lockdowns have delayed hurricane preparations, especially the identification of sufficient shelters, given the pandemic.

“It’s a very complex landscape this year,” said Elizabeth Riley, acting executive director for the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency.

In The Bahamas, the government will place families in classrooms instead of preparing large gymnasiums like they did with Hurricane Dorian, Lewis said. But that’s not an option for some mayors in Puerto Rico, where dozens of schools in the island’s southern region were permanently shuttered after a 6.4-magnitude quake and heavy aftershocks, with more than 70 families still staying in hotels as the search for housing continues.

“We definitely have additional challenges with all these

Maria Matilde Parrilla (right), 92, looks up as a municipal worker points out a faulty joint in her wood-and-zinc roof in Loiza, Puerto Rico, on Thursday, May 28.

AP PHOTOS An old military truck used during flooding sits parked at the Carlos Escobar Lopez vocational school, which will be used as a shelter during this year’s hurricane season in Loiza, Puerto Rico.