In the wake of a tropical storm warning being issued for St. Kitts and Nevis earlier today, NEMA took the lead decision to pull together major players and leaders from both government and the private sector to examine the likely impact on the country, if the storm does in fact, take a direct hit on St. Kitts and Nevis.

National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) Coordinator Carl Herbert revealed that a key feature of the meeting was a presentation by senior metrological officer Elmo Burke, who provided information on the current position of the storm, up to the meeting time, and delegates used that information to structure the approach for the country’s activities to attain a stage of readiness.

“We had a pre-strike meeting because of the development of a tropical low, into a tropical depression (number 9) and St. Kitts and Nevis is one of a few countries that are on a tropical storm warning conditions.

Herbert also stated that based on the information encoded by Burke, the federation can expect to experience tropical storm conditions which include gusty winds and 4-8 inches of rainfall.

He added that conditions should begin to deteriorate by Wednesday afternoon into the evening and Thursday morning while the storm passes about 70 miles to the south of St Kitts and Nevis.

Among person involved in the meeting were Permanent Secretaries, representatives from the Chamber of Industry and Commerce, church organizations the Red Cross, amateur radio society and some of the statutory bodies.

Herbert concluded by saying that individuals are to continue to monitor the local media for additional weather updates. He has urged residents of St. Kitts and Nevis to prepare for heavy rainfall and gusty winds as Tropical Depression 9 approaches the Caribbean.

The island of St. Kitts, is located at latitude 17.30 N, and longitude 62.80 W. Nevis is located at latitude 17.10 N, longitude 62.35 W, approximately 3 km south-east of St. Kitts.