St. Vincent and the Grenadines was placed under a Tropical Storm Watch at 5pm 30th June, 2021 as the Meteorological Services at the Argyle International Airport was monitoring a disturbance that had the potential to develop into a Tropical Storm. At 5am this morning – 1st July, Tropical Storm Elsa was formed and St. Vincent and the Grenadines was placed under a Tropical Storm Warning.
At 5:00 p.m. today, the Centre of Tropical Storm Elsa was located near 11.2 N 53.8W or approximately 520 miles (835 kilometers) from St. Vincent and the Grenadines, with maximum sustained winds of 45 miles per hour (MPH) with higher gusts. Its present movement is to the West North West at 29 MPH.
Rainfall accumulations of 3 to 6 inches (75 to 150 mm) with higher amounts in mountainous areas can be expected across St. Vincent and the Grenadines. This rainfall could cause life threatening flash floods and mudslides.
On its present track, the centre of the system is predicted to pass near or over mainland St. Vincent by late morning or early Friday afternoon. Seas are expected to become very rough in open waters with swells peaking to near 5 metres (16feet).
POSSIBLE IMPACT
On its current forecast Tropical Storm Elsa may pass between mainland St. Vincent and the Northern Grenadines with wave heights forecasted to be as high a 16 ft. These wave heights can cause devastation along the coastlines in the Grenadines and on mainland St. Vincent and can destroy boats and homes that are located close to the shore.
Tropical Storm Elsa has the potential to produce heavy rainfall which can result in life-threatening flash floods, landslides and lahars. Following the La Soufriere volcanic eruptions, heavy rains have resulted in lahars predominantly in the north of the country. Lahars are flows of water mixed with ash, other volcanic materials, stones, rocks and debris coming down the river valleys at great speeds and can damage homes and move anything within its path. These are extremely dangerous.
DECLARATION
The following declaration was made by the Hon. Dr. Ralph E. Gonsalves, Prime Minster of St. Vincent and the
Grenadines on Thursday July 01, 2021:
All businesses, schools and the public service will close tomorrow 2nd ONLY essential services such as police, health services, and utilities will report to work under their department instructions.
ACTIONS TAKEN
At 2:30 pm today, the Hon. Dr. Ralph E. Gonsalves, Prime Minster of St. Vincent and the Grenadines convened a meeting of the National Emergency Council at the National Insurance Services (NIS) Conference Room. During this meeting, all the agencies were briefed by the Meteorological Services on the approach of Tropical Storm Elsa and urged to put all systems in place for its potential impact.
The public was informed.
News Releases, PSA’s, social media blasts were penned and distributed to all Media Houses and to the social media platforms of the NEMO and the API.
DECISIONS TAKEN
The following decisions were made by the Hon. Dr. Ralph E. Gonsalves, Prime Minster of St. Vincent and the Grenadines:
- All businesses, schools and the public service will close tomorrow 2nd ONLY essential services such as police, health services, and utilities will report to work under their department instructions.
- No ferry service will be operated between mainland and the Grenadines or between the Grenadine Islands on 2nd
- All emergency shelters will activate at 6am on Friday 2nd
- The Argyle International Airport will be closed on Friday 2nd
- The National Emergency Operations Centre will fully activate at 6am tomorrow 2nd
SHELTER
A preliminary list of ninety four (94) shelters throughout St. Vincent and the Grenadines was published by the National Emergency Management Organisation (NEMO). These shelters are available for use in the event that persons need to shelter from Tropical Storm Elsa.
These shelters are additional shelters that were included as part of the hurricane shelter list and are not among the fifty (50) shelters between Barrouallie and Biabou that are currently housing over two thousand persons displaced as a result of the La Soufrière explosive eruptions.
