Black Immigrant Daily News

There are now two tropical disturbances being monitored by the US National Hurricane Center (US NHC), with a tropical wave located east of the Windward islands.

The NHC in its 8 am update on Sunday said shower and thunderstorm activity associated with a tropical wave located several hundred miles east of the Windward Islands has increased over the past day or so.

It said some gradual development of the wave is possible during the next few days while it moves generally westward at 15 to 20 mph.

The disturbance has a (low) 10 per cent chance of formation through the next 48 hours and a (low) 20 per cent chance of formation through the next five days.

Several Caribbean islands are already keeping close watch over this disturbance.

The St Vincent and the Grenadines Meteorological Services in its last 72-hour weather outlook said on Sunday, warm conditions are anticipated but by nightfall a tropical wave inches closer to the islands. This wave is expected to affect SVG by mid-Monday.

Meanwhile, The Disaster Management Coordination Agency, (DMCA) in Montserrat said it is closely monitoring Tropical Disturbance 2 (Yellow) several hundred miles east of the Windward Islands with a Low Chance of development over the next five days as it tracks westward.

It noted at this time, the system is not a threat to Montserrat, and there are no watches or warnings issued for the island. However, the DMCA is encouraging residents and visitors to continue to monitor the DMCA and be prepared.

Dominica’s Meteorological Services in its 6 am Forecast on Sunday said unstable mid to upper-level conditions maintained by a trough system and lingering moisture are expected to support a few periods of cloudiness, showers and possible isolated thunderstorms across the area, during the next 24 hours. Thereafter, from Monday and into Tuesday, the passage of a tropical wave is projected to further increase the chance of showers and thunderstorm activity over the island. Slight to moderate seas are anticipated during the next 24 to 48 hours with waves peaking to 5.0ft along the eastern coast.

Meanwhile, in the Eastern Tropical Atlantic, a tropical wave located several hundred miles south of the Cabo Verde Islands continues to produce disorganised showers and thunderstorms.

Environmental conditions are forecast to be favourable for some gradual development during the next several days.

Therefore, a tropical depression is likely to form during the early or middle part of next week while the system moves westward, then turns northwestward or northward toward the end of the week over the eastern tropical Atlantic.

Disturbance one has a (low) 30 per cent chance of formation through the next 48 hours and a (high) 70 per cent chance of formation through the next five days.

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Black Immigrant Daily News

See below statement from the Guyana Government reiterating its commitment to peaceful resolution of the Guyana/Venezuela border controversy: 

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of the Cooperative Republic of Guyana has noted the Communique issued by the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela dated September 30, 2022.

The Government of Guyana stands by the statement made by His Excellency Dr Mohamed Irfaan Ali, President of the Cooperative Republic of Guyana before the United Nations General Assembly on September 21, 2022. In the words of His Excellency President Ali:

“In the matter of Guyana’s sovereignty and territorial integrity – challenged and threatened by Venezuela as it is, we remain – to quote the Secretary General at the opening of the General Debate yesterday – “committed to make the most of every diplomatic tool for the pacific settlement of disputes, as set out in the Charter of the United Nations”.

In this case, ‘judicial settlement’ as determined by the Secretary General himself.

The world’s nations can be assured that Guyana shall remain true to those peaceful processes and deny every effort to depart from them. The International Court of Justice has already affirmed its jurisdiction in the matter.”

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Black Immigrant Daily News

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Prime Minister Philip J. Pierre has been highlighting Saint Lucia’s achievements in the aftermath of the July 26, 2021, general elections which his Saint Lucia Labour Party (SLP) won by a landslide.

He did so while calling attention to claims by the opposition United Workers Party (UWP) that ‘the sky is falling’.

But Pierre told Saturday’s annual general meeting of his Castries East Constituency Group that every child recently had their facility fees paid, and Saint Lucia has begun exporting bananas to England, the only country in the region to do so.

In addition, he declared that children had begun receiving laptops while the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) had declared that Saint Lucia has achieved eight percent economic growth.

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“You are looking at a country that just waived rental fees for people in the CDC building,” the Castries East MP stated.

He also said Saint Lucia has the best tourism figures in the region and, since July, had a government with no smell of corruption’ and where Ministers do their work diligently.

“You are looking at a country on the verge of rebuilding St. Jude Hospital,” he asserted to applause from the audience.

And he observed that Saint Lucia had returned some confidence to the Royal Saint Lucia Police Force (RSLPF), which is about to get a new divisional headquarters.

“You are looking at a country like that and say: ‘The sky is falling’ because I am Prime Minister?” Pierre said.

He acknowledged that the crime situation was not good.

Nevertheless, Pierre declared that he, his Deputy, Dr. Ernest Hilaire, Anse La Raye-Canaries MP, Wayne Girard, or Senior Minister Stephenson King could not, by themselves, solve the crime situation in one year.

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Black Immigrant Daily News

Rescuers evacuated stunned survivors on a large barrier island cut off by Hurricane Ian and Florida’s death toll climbed sharply, as hundreds of thousands of people were still sweltering without power days after the monster storm rampaged from the state’s southwestern coast up to the Carolinas.

Florida, with nearly four dozen reported dead, was hit hardest by the Category 4 hurricane, one of the strongest to make landfall in the United States. Flooded roadways and washed-out bridges to barrier islands left many people isolated, amid limited cellphone service and a lack of basic amenities such as water, electricity and the internet.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said Saturday that multibillionaire businessman Elon Musk was providing some 120 Starlink satellites to “help bridge some of the communication issues.” Starlink, a satellite-based internet system created by Musk’s SpaceX, will provide high-speed connectivity.

Florida utilities were working to restore power. As of Sunday morning, nearly 850,000 homes and businesses were still without electricity, down from a peak of 2.67 million.

At least 54 people were confirmed dead: 47 in Florida, four in North Carolina and three in Cuba. The weakened storm had drifted north on Sunday and was expected to dump rain on parts of Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland and southern Pennsylvania, according to the National Hurricane Center, which has warned of the potential for flash flooding.

More than 1,000 people were rescued from flooded areas along Florida’s southwestern coast alone, Daniel Hokanson, a four-star general and head of the National Guard, told The Associated Press while airborne to Florida.

In Washington, the White House announced that President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden would travel to Florida on Wednesday. But a brief statement did not release any details of the planned visit.

The bridge to Pine Island, the largest barrier island off Florida’s Gulf Coast, was destroyed by the storm, leaving it accessible only by boat or air. The volunteer group Medic Corps, which responds to natural disasters worldwide with pilots, paramedics and doctors, went door-to-door asking residents if they wanted to be evacuated.

Some flew out by helicopter, and people described the horror of being trapped in their homes as water kept rising.

“The water just kept pounding the house and we watched, boats, houses — we watched everything just go flying by,” Joe Conforti said, fighting back tears. He said if it wasn’t for his wife, who suggested they get up on a table to avoid the rising water, he wouldn’t have made it: “I started to lose sensibility, because when the water’s at your door and it’s splashing on the door and you’re seeing how fast it’s moving, there’s no way you’re going to survive that.”

River flooding posed a major challenge at times to rescue and supply delivery efforts. The Myakka River washed over a stretch of Interstate 75, forcing a traffic-snarling highway closure for a while before officials said later Saturday that it could be reopened.

While swollen rivers have crested or are near cresting, the levels aren’t expected to drop significantly for days, National Weather Service meteorologist Tyler Fleming said.

Elsewhere, South Carolina’s Pawleys Island, a beach community roughly 75 miles (115 kilometres) up the coast from Charleston, was also hit hard. Power remained knocked out to at least half the island Saturday.

Eddie Wilder, who has been coming to Pawleys Island for more than six decades, said it was “insane” to see waves as high as 25 feet (7.6 metres) wash away a landmark pier near his home.

“We watched it hit the pier and saw the pier disappear,” he said. “We watched it crumble and watched it float by with an American flag.”

Wilder’s house, located 30 feet (9 metres) above the shoreline, stayed dry inside.

In North Carolina, the storm downed trees and power lines. Two of the four deaths in the state were from storm-related vehicle crashes, and the others involved a man who drowned when his truck plunged into a swamp and another killed by carbon monoxide poisoning from a generator in a garage.

At Port Sanibel Marina in Fort Myers, Florida, the storm surge pushed several boats and a dock onshore. Charter captain Ryan Kane said his vessel was so badly damaged that he was unable to use it to help rescue people, and now it will be a long time before he can take clients fishing again.

“There’s a hole in the hull. It took water in the motors. It took water in everything,” he said, adding: “You know, boats are supposed to be in the water, not in parking lots.”

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By REBECCA SANTANA and MEG KINNARD, Associated Press

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