The annual Atlantic hurricane season starts today with the usual forecast, awareness messages and calls to get ready. With the widespread destruction caused by record-strength Hurricane Irma on September 6, 2017, still fresh in memory, nobody who experienced such should really need a reminder.
The Meteorological Department of St. Maarten (MDS) in its release brought up some interesting facts. It’s the fourth year in a row with a named storm (Andrea) before the season officially begins, while 2018 was the first time since 2008 with four simultaneous active tropical systems (Florence, Helene, Isaac and Joyce).
A lot of people are hoping for El Niño to make a positive difference, but while expected to persist throughout 2019, it’s unclear how strong this cyclical weather phenomenon will be during the season’s peak period. Besides, as pointed out, there have been big hurricane hits both here and elsewhere in the region even with El Niño.
That seawater temperatures were warmer than average up to mid-May is not-so-good news, but this too can change.
Most predictions are for a near- to just-above-average year, which would be 12 named storms, with five becoming hurricanes, of which three major ones. In the end these numbers matter little, because it only takes one.
And it doesn’t even have to be a named storm. Intense tropical waves or a mere two to three hours of heavy rainfall can create problems, as experience has shown.
The advice by Prime Minister Leona Marlin (see related story) not to wait with preparations until the last minute is therefore well-taken. However, one has to say the same goes for government in terms of readying the shelters, the annual hurricane clean-up, etc.
This may sound corny, but becoming more resilient to natural disasters takes a community-wide effort. Just imagine persons with all safeguards in place and having fully prepared suffering property damage or even worse caused by debris from a neighbour who did not do their part.
It’s very much a civic responsibility.
