All’s well that ends well, they say, and this certainly seems the case with Hurricane Tammy. It brought mainly inconvenience in the form of school ending early Friday and staying closed today, Monday, plus a business closure from noon Saturday until 8:00am on Sunday.
There was some confusion as the latter on Friday afternoon had been announced per midnight, which during the evening was changed to noon the next day, based on the cyclone’s changed behaviour. The tourism economy took a bit of a blow with the cancellation of two cruise ship visits on Friday and Saturday’s suspension of flight operations at the airport.
But the weather impact turned out to be minimal, as much of the rainfall, thunderstorms and strong winds remained to the centre’s northeast while it passed 60 miles northeast at its closest point early Sunday. That will probably be an argument for some to second-guess meteorologists and authorities, but most are just happy there appeared to be no major material damage or personal injuries.
Residents of St. Peters and South Reward, which still have overhead utility cables, were told Saturday afternoon that their power would be cut as precaution from 9:00pm. This no doubt caused lots of stress in these neighbourhoods; however, it later proved unnecessary because hurricane-force winds never materialised on the island.
Although a flood watch was still in effect, the conclusion could be drawn Sunday evening that St. Maarten/St. Martin as well as St. Eustatius and Saba came through another tropical system threat relatively unscathed. There is thus enough reason to be thankful once again.
The 2023 Atlantic Hurricane Season won’t be over until November 30 mind you, but so far, so good.
