 Welcome to the NTN Nightly. I'm Nisha Charles with a special edition post-Tropical Storm Dorian. At 10 a.m. Tuesday 27th August, the National Emergency Management Organization, NEMO, gave the all-clear for the resumption of normal day-to-day activity as Tropical Storm Dorian moved away from St. Lucia. The all-clear followed the discontinuation of the Tropical Storm Warning for St. Lucia at 8 a.m. by the Met Services. St. Lucia began feeling the effects of Tropical Storm Dorian at approximately 2 a.m. Tuesday. Acting Director of NEMO, Doreen Gustave, explains the difference between the discontinuation of a Tropical Storm Warning and the all-clear. When a discontinuation is given, the country is not in an all-clear. As long as there is a shutdown, the discontinuation does not determine an all-clear. As soon as the discontinuation is given, the assessment teams, our first responders, are sent out there to ensure that conditions are right, that there are no hazards out there. Power lines, for instance, are not down, the roads are passable, and so on. This is what happens after the Tropical Watch or Tropical Storm Warning has been discontinued. Despite the national shutdown at 6 p.m. Monday, 26 August, and the many advisories urging members of the public to remain indoors, individuals still ventured out putting their lives at risk. Members of the Royal St. Lucia Police Force were out ensuring that the public heeded the advisories. When persons decide to go out there in spite of a shutdown noticed by the government, they are putting their lives at risk. And also, the first responders, the EMT, the police, you are putting all the person's lives, not just yours, all the person's lives at risk. So we're asking, as soon as a shutdown has been issued, we're asking persons to stay indoors. Stay indoors until the all-clear has been given. Better communication and enforcement of the law is needed in times of disaster. So says Deputy Chief Fire Officer George Victrin in the aftermath of Tropical Storm Dorian. Victrin says that while it is a work in progress, officials need to work more closely with the public to ensure that all are kept safe during such times. Most persons had head to the warning, but we saw that early this morning, after six minutes to seven, there were quite a few persons on the road, motorists, as well as persons walking in some of the towns and cities, which was not advisable at all. Because we were still on the shutdown, the all-clear had not been given, and those persons were putting themselves at unnecessary risk. The Deputy Chief Fire Officer also reported that there were no major reports as a result of Tropical Storm Dorian. No major reports relating to the storm. We had a fire at Vufot, which was a major fire, but that was not directly related to the storm. But all in all, it was very quiet, our normal ambulance responses. And as we speak, we are still very much on alert. All our staff are still on duty waiting to see how things develop. And the Saint Lucia Electricity Service's limited Lusilek says the electricity system held up extremely well during the passage of Tropical Storm Dorian. There was no damage to any of the major electricity infrastructure, such as the transmission lines, substations, or any of the generation plants. Although the period the country was under Tropical Storm Warning, there was only one call of a fault in the south, and two calls of area faults were received in the north Tuesday morning. In its statement, Lusilek reminded customers to trim trees on their properties, especially at the beginning of the annual hurricane season. This will not only reduce potential damage to customers' properties, but will also help to minimize damage to electricity infrastructure from falling trees and branches and prevent power outages in some instances. Prime Minister Hon. Alan Shastney says he's thankful that the island was spared from Tropical Storm Dorian. Speaking to NTN Nightly via telephone, Hon. Shastney highlighted the government's proactive approach to disaster preparedness. As a government, we have taken on the position that we are going to be in a constant state of preparedness. These storms will come. They are very unpredictable. So the fact is this storm could have easily strengthened, even from the time it left Barbados to San Lusio. We've seen videos of what took place in Margenique, so I'm just very, very grateful that we were spared. So I think that the attitude of deciding to be in a state of preparedness and then making those resources available is the right one, and we're seeing that it's paying off. I mean, so simple things like waiting for the hurricane season to try to check the radios of Nemo. Nemo's radios have not been working for so long, so for the whole year we've been fixing up the repeaters and getting that system fully operational. Satellite phones, and we now have three satellite phones, and every year we try to add one or two more satellite phones into the system. The police now having their own communication system, all these things are helping to strengthen our ability to be able to handle and cope a fallout from a natural disaster. The Prime Minister also emphasized the importance of engaging the public as partners in disaster mitigation and management. Hon. Roshasne says Tropical Storm Dorian also presented lessons for the government. There was a video that was circulated of some homeless people, we think, in the CDC areas that were sleeping outside past the curfew time. I've asked the Ministry of Equity, Nemo themselves, the police, and the city council to look into this, because that should not happen. I mean, there are a lot of emergency sites that shelters that people could have gone to. I didn't hear one report of any shelter being over occupied, so the fact is it really comes down to a point of enforcement at this point. We've just spent a lot of money in helping fix up the facilities at Cornerstone, which is right there in VG. So again, there has not been a lack of facilities for these people to go to. It's just really different agencies must take ownership of it. From a communications perspective, this year we had NTN and GIS based at the Nemo facility. I'm preparing the information and sending it out to the different information channels, so the different TV stations and radio stations. Several radio stations were on all night, and one TV station did a really good job of staying on air. So we have to review whether, in fact, that worked. I know that there was an instance this morning where the net office indicated that we were no longer on a tropical storm watch. Some people, unfortunately, misinterpreted that as being as in all clear, but we were able to make some very quick phone calls. So the key is to continuously review our communication strategy to make sure that it's on point. And that was Prime Minister Alan Shastney. You're watching a special edition of the NTN Nightly Post-Tropical Storm Dorian. The world's climate is changing, and that affects all of us. Storms are becoming increasingly intense, periods of intense drought and heavy rain, to suppress farm animals and destroy our crops. Higher average ocean temperatures kill our coral reefs and change the migratory patterns of fish. St. Lucia contributes only 0.0015% of global greenhouse gas emissions, but is doing its part, along with countries around the world, to reduce the emissions that are warming our world and changing our climate. These efforts are called mitigation. But decades of emissions have already changed the climate, and the greenhouse gases in the atmosphere today will increase average global temperatures even more. We need to adapt, that is, do everything we can to prepare for and respond to the actual and expected negative effects of climate change, and everyone has a role to play. We need to protect our crops, build homes that withstand storms, keep our drains and waterways free of garbage to help us recover or bounce back from climatic events. Learn more about the Government of St. Lucia's National Adaptation Plan and the steps you can take to protect yourself and your fellow St. Lucia's. Welcome back. The St. Lucia Solid Waste Management Authority has informed that the garbage collection service will resume from Wednesday, August 28, 2019. The authority encourages the public to place waste out only on the scheduled collection day for their respective communities. The Glows Sanitary landfill and the Viewford Solid Waste Management Facility will, however, reopen to the public from 12.30pm until 6pm. Users of the disposal facilities are asked to exercise caution and to follow instructions given by site staff, given the wet conditions at this time. Residents who missed the Tuesday collection due to the passage of Tropical Storm Dorian are informed that the service will resume on the next collection day for the community. The authority urges affected residents to continue to store waste on their premises until then. The hotel sector, like the rest of Interest on Ireland, was spared any damage as a result of Tropical Storm Dorian. The Chief Executive Officer of the St. Lucia Hotel and Tourism Association, Nurani Aziz, gave us an overview earlier on. The hotels have got preparedness plans that came into full effect once we realized from the authorities that we were expecting the storm to pass over St. Lucia. And that protocol seeks to ensure more than anything else, the safety of our guests and our team members. We continue to dialogue and exchange information throughout the night. And this kept everyone in the loop as to the reports and what was happening, what was going on, not only in St. Lucia but in our neighboring territory in Barbados. And essentially there was really seamless exchange and communication and information back and forth. And we were really delighted this morning after the shutdown was lifted, scouting the properties realized that there was very little effect on property, on plant, on the welfare of guests and on the welfare of team members. And that was the Chief Executive Officer of the St. Lucia Hotel and Tourism Association, Nurani Aziz. And let's take a look now at the weather. Overcast to generally cloudy with moderate to heavy showers and scattered thunderstorms over the leeward and most of the Windward Islands. Residents and interests in St. Lucia and the Lesser Antilles are asked to continue to closely monitor the progress of Tropical Storm Dorian and remain vigilant. A tropical wave located over the Central Tropical Atlantic is moving westward near 12 miles per hour or 19 kilometers per hour. Tides for Castries Harbor high at 211 p.m. low at 633 p.m. Tides for Viewford Bay high at 318 p.m. low at 8 p.m. Seas moderate to locally rough with waves 5 to 8 feet or 1.5 to 2.4 meters. Small craft operators and sea bathers are advised to continue to exercise extreme caution due to rough seas, swells and gusty winds generated by Tropical Storm Dorian. The sun will rise Wednesday at 5.51 a.m. And that brings us to the end of our special edition of the NTN Nightly. Join us next time at 7 p.m. with a repeat at 7 a.m. You can also catch up with us anytime on the St. Lucia Government Facebook page or YouTube channel. I'm Nisha Tross.