Forecasters are expecting the 2011 hurricane season to be a highly active one, predicting that out of the 17 named storms, nine will develop into hurricanes and five develop into major hurricanes.
Given that, officials of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) along with officials of the United States Northern Command (USNORTHCOMM) and Pacific Disaster Centre are hosting a three-day Disaster Conference for the Central Bahamas at the Sheraton Cable Beach Resort.
According to Senior Deputy Director at the Bahamas Meteorological Office Trevor Basden, the reason behind the above average season can be credited to La Nina conditions.
“With the La Nina conditions, when the systems come off the coast of Africa moving from east to west towards The Bahamas then there is not that upper level wind flow to sheer off the top of the cyclone so we expect more development,” Mr. Basden said.
With new equipment and technologies in place including lightening detection systems, refurbishment to the Doppler weather radar and consistent training for meteorologists, Mr. Basden assured that the department is ready to effectively monitor, observe and analyse the weather in order to give the necessary alert watches and warnings.
This spells good news for NEMA’s Director Captain Stephen Russell, considering the heavy reliance on the meteorological department.
To strengthen their communications network, NEMA has ensured that all Family Island administrators have a satellite phone.
They are also working in conjunction with partners like the police force, Bahamas Telecommunications Company (BTC) and the defence force.
