San Antonio Express-News (Sunday)
Caribbean countries fighting virus now face threat of hurricane season
MEXICO CITY — Houses with no roofs. Neighborhoods lacking electricity. Residents who fled still in exile.
Ten months after Hurricane Dorian pulverized the northern Bahamas, those islands are still struggling to recover, even as this year’s hurricane season is underway. But rebuilding, always a slow process, has been slowed even further this year by a disaster of another sort: the coronavirus pandemic.
“That brought rebuilding efforts to a complete halt,” said Stafford Symonette, an evangelical pastor whose house on Great Abaco Island was severely damaged during the hurricane — and remains that way.
“You still have a lot of people in tents and temporary shelters,” he said.
The Bahamas — like other hurricane-prone countries in the Caribbean and North Atlantic — find themselves at the dramatic convergence of a devastating pandemic and an Atlantic hurricane season that is expected to be more active than normal.
The pandemic has profoundly affected all aspects of hurricane preparedness and response, and it has left nations even more vulnerable to the effects of storms.
It has complicated rebuilding efforts from past hurricane seasons. It has crippled national economies in the region, many of which depend heavily on tourism. It has forced the reallocation of diminished government resources — money and personnel that otherwise might have been used for hurricanerelated work — to deal with the public health crisis.
“Are we prepared for this hurricane season?” said Ronald Sanders, ambassador of Antigua and Barbuda to the U.S. and to the Organization of American States. “The answer is: no. And I don’t care who tells you we are. We haven’t been able to dedicate any funds toward hurricane preparedness this year.”
“These
countries
are struggling and have been for some time,” he continued. “The reality is that we are in dire straits.”
Weather scientists from the U.S. government have predicted that during this Atlantic storm season, which began June 1 and runs through Nov. 30, there will be as many as 19 named storms, with as many as six growing to major hurricane status. An average hurricane season has 12 named storms and three major hurricanes.
The season has gotten off to a quick start, with four named storms so far. And Tropical Depression 5 formed Saturday 245 miles west-southwest of Bermuda. Forecasters said it could pass over the island by Sunday morning, the Orlando Sentinel reported.
The pandemic has presented a range of public health challenges for governments and relief groups preparing for hurricanes, including the need to ensure adequate social distancing during evacuations and in shelters, along with a sufficient supply of personal protective gear for emergency workers and evacuees.
Health officials are trying to stockpile medicine and other supplies and prepare for possible coronavirus outbreaks among evacuees.
“Without a doubt, once we have a natural hazard such as a hurricane, there will be a greater rate of infection, particularly with respect to COVID-19, among other diseases that could arise,” Dr. Laura-Lee Boodram, an official with the Caribbean Public Health Agency, warned during a recent panel discussion organized by the Caribbean Tourism Organization.
The Bahamian government said it expects to incur a $1.3 billion deficit this fiscal year, the largest in the history of the nation.
“Any significant storm damage this year would put us in a very serious spot in terms of our fiscal projections,” said Peter Turnquest, the Bahamas’ deputy prime minister and finance minister.
“We certainly pray that there are no storms this year,” Turnquest said.