Hurricane devastation and how to prepare Loop Cayman Islands

Black Immigrant Daily News

Hearing about a tropical storm or hurricane forecast is one thing; living through it, however, is an entirely different matter. As a result, each person is encouraged to learn more about hurricanes and their impacts, preferably before they happen so that they can make adequate preparations. The Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale, which outlines various categories of hurricanes, is helpful in this regard.

The Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale

According to the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale, hurricane intensities are categorised from 1 to 5, mostly based on maximum sustained winds at any time. For example, a category 1 hurricane like Hurricane Danielle became a hurricane once Danielle exceeded 73 mph, as explained in the below video.

Notwithstanding the above, general illustration of damage, the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale is not intended to predict absolutely the impacts of maximum sustained winds across different categories.

In fact, the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale has limitations. For example, the actual damage Cayman may experience could be influenced by many factors. Some of these are:

the age of relevant structuresbuilding codes applicable to such structures (and whether or not they are enforced)how slowly the system is moving or sits over you (like Hurricane Ivan, which pounded the Cayman Islands for over 24 hours in September 2004)flooding, storm surge and other factors

How to prepare

Given the social, economic, and environmental devastation caused by Hurricane Ivan in September 2004 (September is the historical peak of the hurricane season) and the potential for this to happen again, it is important for communities and businesses to have proper disaster and business continuity plans in place, far in advance of a threat.

In addition, it is critical for communities to establish community emergency response teams (CERT), who are members of each community trained by Hazard Management Cayman Islands (HCMI). (If you are not familiar with the CERT programme, you can learn more on HCMI’s website at https://www.caymanprepared.gov.ky/cert. )

Ideally, you should also get to know the members of the CERT team for your area prior to a disaster as the team will assess the resources in your community before a hurricane and assist HCMI and other emergency responders, post-disaster. To obtain this information, you may contact HCMI at 945-4624 or email them at hmci@gov.ky.

With this knowledge in hand, residents should not, however, get too relaxed or become complacent thinking that all angles are covered. Instead, residents should remain vigilant upon the announcement of a hurricane or tropical storm, stay prepared and test hurricane preparedness plans from time to time, even when there is no threat.

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