CATEGORY:WEATHER NEWS
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By Rawle Titus (NaDMA Officer)


ST. GEOEGE, Grenada (August 29, 2006) - The National Disaster Management Agency (NaDMA) says it’s concerned that some persons are still not taking seriously the warnings about an approaching weather system.

The statement from NaDMA followed last week’s passage of tropical cyclone number five which has since developed into a tropical depression.
NaDMA is describing as mixed, the reaction of the general public to the information provided by itself and the meteorological office about the wave.
NaDMA has found that while some persons took the information very seriously others have overreacted.

NaDMA’s Coordinator, Sylvan McIntyre, says he is particularly concerned that some persons tend to believe that the information provided was not very credible.

“I want to be very firm on this. People need to take the warnings that are given by the agency and subsequently the met office very seriously. People must note that the advisories and predictions given are only forecasts,” McIntyre said.

“Situation may change along the way and in this instance we did find that the system did change as it came across Grenada and persons were commenting that what they heard was not quite correct because they were not seeing the evidence of what we spoke about in terms of the rain and the wind”.

Tropical wave number five passed through the southern Windward Islands and was forecast to dump heavy rains leading to flooding in traditional
low-lying areas, however, the NaDMA Coordinator says the size of our island needs to be taken into account when weather conditions are forecast.
“We also want to make this point - that Grenada is not a very big island and there are times when there are activities that will be different in various parts of the island” he explained.

“That in itself is an indication that while persons may be saying that nothing is happening to us there will be parts of the island that would be receiving the effects of a tropical system,” McIntyre said.

The NaDMA Coordinator says the agency’s process of sharing information has proven to be very effective.