 Welcome to NTN Nightly, I am General Norville. This is a special edition as we provide comprehensive coverage of government's preparations ahead of Tropical Cyclone Dorian. St. Lucia is under a national shutdown that began at 6pm as the island braces for the impact of the fourth storm of the 2019 Atlantic hurricane season. Tropical Storm Dorian is developing toward hurricane status, which is expected by Tuesday 27th August. Dorian is moving towards west-northwest. On the forecast track, the centre of Dorian is expected to pass near St. Lucia late Monday night and move into the eastern Caribbean Sea by Tuesday. Dorian is expected to produce total rain accumulations of 3 to 8 inches with possible isolated maximum amounts of 10 inches. Prime Minister of the Honourable Alan Chastney on Monday chaired a pre-strike meeting of the National Emergency Management Advisory Council, NIMAC. He urged residents and motorists in areas prone to flooding and landslides to take all necessary precautions. We are predicting at this point that the hurricane is going to pass south of St. Lucia, very narrow channel. That means it can move either north of that position or south of that position. We're anticipating at this point that it could be a hurricane, category 1 hurricane. But given that hurricane is not due to hit here until 2 o'clock in the morning, there are a lot of things that can transpire. So it is important that we take this extremely seriously. 6 to 10 inches is a lot of rain. And so therefore everybody should be taking the necessary precautions. With winds predicted to reach 74 miles per hour taking into category 1 status, Dorian is expected to make landfall here about 2 a.m. Tuesday. So this is the ocean and the temperatures. We are in a warm area which is ideal for the system to develop. And this is an image of moisture. So this Dorian, look at it here. And the center of it shows depicts high moisture content. It depicts the hurricane. And like friends have said, we will be on the northern end of it. So the strong winds would be normally in the northeast quadrant. So we should be expecting, in some areas we will be expecting hurricane for winds. Due to the impending impact of the weather system, Dorian, the Commissioner of Police wishes to inform all police officers to remain on standby in the event of leave cancellation. In the event of damage infrastructure resulting in the breakdown of communication systems, all police officers are required to report to the nearest police station without further correspondence indicating cancellation of leave. If communication systems remain functional, officers are asked to await further instruction from the Office of the Commissioner of Police. All officers attached to the Police Marine Unit and Special Services Unit are hereby informed of the cancellation of leave for these units with immediate effect. The Royal St. Lucia Police Force has advised the general public that due to the national shutdown from 6 p.m., no one via foot or other means is to be seen outdoors. Anyone violating this with the exception of emergency personnel shall be detained. Once again, everyone is to remain in their homes until the official all-clear notice is given by Nemo. I want to reiterate, there is no such thing as a partial all-clear. So the only entity that is authorized to give an all-clear is Nemo. So the country will be on a shutdown as of 6 p.m. until Nemo gives the official notice that an all-clear has been established. I also want to point the citizens that if you would like, there is an app called cap.cap. If you go to it, it's a free app and that that app is an official entity of Nemo and will be providing regular updates as to the status of the hurricane and any other relevant information that Nemo has deemed necessary to distribute to the citizens. But in today's age where there are a multitude of outlets that are confessing to give official information, I want to reiterate the only agency that's authorized to speak on behalf of the government of St. Lucia is Nemo. And if you are a social media person and you want to be able to get your information on your phone, cap.cap would be that position. The Department of Infrastructure, Ports and Energy is requesting all heavy equipment owners and operators to have their equipment on standby as per established protocol in order to provide support in the immediate aftermath of the passage of Tropical Storm Dorian which is forecast to strengthen with hurricane conditions over the island. The ministry has assured that in the event that St. Lucia is severely impacted, its engineers and technical experts will work closely with all state agencies and stakeholders to get St. Lucia backed up and running as soon as. Minister Hon. Stephen St. King says the ministry has been preparing for the hurricane season. Our work started in June of this year and it started first with what we consider to be the pre-hurricane program which entails the clearance of drains in communities, in towns and villages in the city, working very closely with the various local authorities in St. Lucia. This is the third year we have undertaken such a program and it has worked pretty well in the past few years. In July we commenced the hurricane desilting program and this year, like last year, we have seen an increase of 100% in the allocation and expenditure in desilting works throughout the country of all of our major drains, major streams, parish drains and other waterways throughout the country. We are virtually complete with the program with some new requests coming in from parliamentarians who are of the opinion that some further emphasis should be given on drains which we have not traditionally serviced historically. All in all, the Ministry of Infrastructure is ready. We have had our internal meetings as early as June of this year at the department preparing, preparing for floods, preparing for strengthening of infrastructure, bridges, etc. Assessments of our road infrastructure has been undertaken through the road maintenance management system and the asset management system. So we have a fair understanding of the strength of our infrastructure and what to anticipate. We do know that with heavy rains the carriageways are usually interfered with and that is mainly out of fatigue of the infrastructure and therefore we anticipate that will happen and so you will see the emergence of portholes as the rains come down. But in anticipation, we are ready for a quick response once the passage of the storm or the hurricane takes place here in St. Louis. So all in all, we are ready and hoping for the best. You're watching a special edition of NTN Nightly at St. Lucia Braces for Dorian. If you come to Bilquihot, keep an eye out for the rain. It's not all the people who are on the side of the rain. Before you go to Wasco, examine if there is a flood. And remember that there is a flood. Don't wait for 30 minutes for a young editor. Remember that there is a flood. If there is a change, keep an eye out for the rain. Keep an eye out for the problem of the victims. This is the Red Wasco Commission. Welcome back. The island's healthcare system comes under pressure daily, but at times of disaster, health services become more critical. A fact not lost on the government of St. Lucia. Prime Minister the Honourable Alan Shasne on Monday highlighted the transformation that wellness centres or health centres have undergone over the past three years. Contingency measures are also in place for St. Jude's Hospital and Victoria Hospital. They have their own generators. They have their solar panels. And they also have a lot of new equipment that they didn't have before so that eventuality that a community is locked off, that there is from a health perspective the capacity to be able to deal with them. Certainly we know that we have two very weak plants. That is in the stadium as well as the Victoria Hospital. And we have been working with the Ministry of Health and also the St. Jude's Board. I'm very grateful for the fact that we went ahead and removed all of the debris above the roofs, which would have been projectiles during a hurricane. We've spent a significant amount of money in strengthening the windows and the areas of potential flooding at the stadium. We also have a contingency plan in place that if there in fact is any major problems at the hospital that we would be moving to another location. And all preparations are being done for that. The case of Victoria, again, we know that it's an old plant. And while we've been moving to OKEU, it would be very easy to ignore what is going on at Victoria. I think that we're strengthening some roofs as we speak because of the maternity wing, if I'm not mistaken, was damaged and was weakened. So I want to assure the public that our health care centers are being looked at in a significant way to make sure that we can weather through this storm. Special consideration must be made to protect our wildlife after the passage of a hurricane or tropical storm if they become displaced. So says Chief Forestry Officer attached to the Department of Forestry of the Ministry of Agriculture in an attempt to bring about an increased awareness of the vulnerability and possible danger our protected species may encounter after a natural disaster. September is notorious for increased turbulent Atlantic activity that is hurricanes and tropical storms. And so the Chief Forestry Officer Alfred Prosper has been highlighting ways in which everyone can play their role in protecting wildlife at the domestic level in the event of the passage of a hurricane or storm. These include endemic species such as the Sinushan racer, the iguana, and our coveted national bird, the Amazon of Vosicola. He explains safety is emphasized firstly for the preservation of human life and so there are special guidelines one should follow. Well that is very important because as I said the condition out there cannot be favorable for those species to survive so they would definitely move to areas where they feel safe. For example if you have a chick, young bird, you know its parents may have not survived the natural disaster and they are on their own. They may seek refuge in somebody's home, in somebody's yard on a tree where they feel safe. It is important to keep those birds safe because remember our law states that you're not supposed to have any wildlife species under-protected in your possession in case of an offense. But in this case we would understand the safety that is required to ensure that we protect those animals from danger. And so as I said, calling is important but if you observe that the bird is in a safe place in your home, let's say in the back of your garage or in your garage somewhere and you can feed. The first thing to do is observe and make sense to feed them just to keep them safe until we get there. I think whatever can happen but we try not to encourage persons to handle the animal simply because we may not be aware or they may not be aware exactly what the problem is. So we ask them to observe, call as quickly as possible. With some small degree of leeway there may be reason to offer temporary refuge and sustenance for displaced wildlife. Mr. Prospect further advises. What I would like to advise persons to do in the event they come across a bird a broken stricter any of our wildlife species to contact the forestry department as soon as possible and we will provide guidance to the person in terms of what to do. We would discourage people from handling those birds because you may see a bird with a broken wing and you may actually go and hold this bird but you may be making matters worse. You may be causing more damage to the wing because you may not know how to handle it in this case. So if you contact the forestry department what we may do is to ask basic questions. Is the bird working? Are you seeing signs of a broken wing? Are you seeing signs that the bird was injured? We ask those questions and what we will do is to collect the animal or the bird in this case from the individual. Regardless of the situation Mr. Prospect says there are forestry officers posted around the island and could be contacted for assistance at the following numbers and or through the fire service for the northern range one should call 468-5639 In Millet and on the west coast the number is 451-1691 In Denry residents should call 453-3241 in the Quillis range in Vier 4-454-5589 and in Souffre 457-1429 457-1427 These emergency contact numbers can also be found on our Ministry of Agriculture Facebook page. From the Ministry of Agriculture I am Amanda Fae-Clock reporting. Stay with NTN Nightly up next Primers Hutchinson is here with the NTN November of the year. Was that an earthquake? No. What do you do if there's an earthquake? Drop cover and pull it off. What does that mean? You drop to the ground take cover underneath a sturdy table or desk and hold on until the shaking stops. What if there's no table or desk? Stay away from the walls, windows and doors. Use your hands to cover your head and face and crouch in a corner of the building. But what if you're outside? Let's go to an open space away from buildings, trees, street lights and utility wires. Drop to your knees protect your head with your arms and wait for the shaking to stop. Remain alert to your surroundings. Be prepared to change where you are if necessary to promote your safety. During an earthquake anything that can move and fall parts of a building including doors, walls and windows, can be a hazard. Remember protect yourself from anything that can move. Do not panic. As soon as you feel the ground shaking drop cover and hold on. This message brought to you by the Viewport South District Disaster Preparedness Committee and NEMO and funded by the USAID Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance. Welcome back. We join Primers Hutchinson for the NTN Nouvelle Accordion. We are from the West Coast Ability Department for this government government. This is GIS, this is NTN, the new Nouvelle Accordion. Today, the new Accordion came from a special department, we have a financial establishment, the organization that the USAID responsible for this. All the representative of the US Department of Government also the Prime Minister of Russia, to discuss the wrong ways in which the Nouvelle Accordion started and to coordinate it with the US Department to buy the new Accordion, which would let the Nouvelle Accordion agree with what was going to happen with the West Bank. This is Dora the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the The situation is that Jessica recover from londi passe. Let me tell you about the tropical storm cook. It was very difficult to find a hurricane. It was very difficult for the farmers to survive. Because the farmers were very shy. It was very difficult to find a hurricane. It was very difficult to find a hurricane. Because the problem then, and the insect that was infected, what we call, the climate change. We had to try and find a way to develop our products. We had to, at least, buy a product that was famous for us. We had to find a suitable situation for us to learn. So we hope, as I said, we hope that the weather will be fine and that the hurricane will be good. I hope that really Prime Minister Prime Minister Prime Minister Prime Minister Prime Minister Prime Minister Prime Minister Prime Minister Prime Minister Prime Minister Prime Minister Prime Minister Alfred Prospect, our Department of Forestry. It will be necessary to protect these forested animals, to support them, and to ensure that they are able to build their own forestry. I have to work for the Department of Forestry, to inform and explain to the public in their own way, to assist, to protect the animals, the animals and the people who live in the country, and to coordinate with the others, so that we can save our own forestry. Mr Prospect, I would like to ask you, after all these years, to help the forestry people who live in the country, to protect the forestry people who live in the country, to ensure that they are able to build their own forestry. Mr Prospect, I would like to call on the public to protect these animals from the forestry, and to advise them, to not leave the forestry people, to control them, to destroy these animals. To support the forestry people, I would like to ask the teachers, to just let the forestry officers come and watch. This is the first time for Mr Prospect to come to the forestry, to advise the public, to facilitate contracts, to try to save the forestry people who live in the country, to help them to protect the forestry people. To help the forestry people, and to help the forestry people, to try to contact the forestry officials. To help the forestry people, even if the forestry people are injured, they can't go to the forestry, because they don't know what to do. To do this, they can't do it, and it's more of a shame. I would like to remind the forestry officials, to help the forestry people, to contact the forestry officials. To do this, I would like to call on the public, to call on the forestry officials, to call on the forestry officials, to contact the forestry officials, to contact the forestry officials, to contact the forestry officials, to contact the forestry officials, to contact the forestry officials, to contact the forestry officials, to contact the forestry officials, to contact the forestry officials, to contact the forestry officials, to contact the forestry officials, to contact the forestry officials, to contact the forestry officials, to contact the forestry officials, to contact the forestry officials, I have a family. I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm next time we visit all of Nouvella, Rio. Merci uphill primers. And to recap what's happening with us, St Lucia is under a national shutdown that began at 6pm as the island braces for the impact of the fourth storm of the 2019 Atlantic hurricane season. Tropical storm Dorian is developing toward hurricane status. With winds predicted to reach 74 miles per hour, taking it to category 1 status, Dorian is expected to make landfall here at about 2am Tuesday. That brings us to the end of NTN Nightly, join us next time at 7pm, before we repeat at 7am. You can also catch up with us anytime on the St Lucia Government Facebook page or YouTube channel. I am General Novel, stay safe until next time.