Message: Hurricane Tomas severely impacts Saint Lucia, causing major destruction to infrastructure. Barbados and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines also experienced significant damage due to Tomas.

Event
Hurricane Tomas, a Category 1 hurricane, began affecting Saint Lucia and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines about 12:00 p.m. on Saturday October 30, 2010 with maximum sustained winds of 75 miles per hour with higher gusts.

The centre of the storm passed 20 miles south of Barbados, strengthened to a Category 1 Hurricane and moved northwest, impacting the states of Saint Vincent & the Grenadines, Saint Lucia and Dominica. All warnings have been discontinued for CDEMA Participating States.

Prognosis
At 11.00 a.m today, October 31, 2010, the centre of Hurricane Tomas was located near latitude 14.0 north and longitude 63.7 west. Tomas is moving toward the west-northwest near 9 mph and this motion is expected to continue through Sunday followed by a turn to the west on Monday.  

Maximum sustained winds are near 90 mph.  Tomas is a Category One hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane wind scale.  Some slight weakening is forecast over the next 24 hours as Tomas moves across the eastern Caribbean Sea over the next couple of days.

Hurricane force winds extend outward up to 40 miles from the center and tropical storm force winds extend outward up to 175 miles.

Barbados
Impact
Tropical Storm Tomas has resulted in wide spread roof loss, downed power lines and trees across Barbados.  

Preliminary reports from the Department of Emergency Management indicate that there are 352 house related damage.

The Barbados Light and Power reported that 75 to 80 percent of the electricity service to island was disrupted and this resulted in reduced water supply in many areas.  

National Actions
The Ministry of Education has announced that there will be no school tomorrow November 1, 2010.

Teams on the ground are continuing with damage assessment. The utility workers are also working to restore electricity, water and telephone to the affected areas.  Electricity supply has been restored to a number of the affected areas.

Clearing of major roads is continuing and 91 blocked roads have already been cleared. The Ministry of Transport and Works and the Department of Emergency Management (DEM) have prepared a schedule to manage the full clearing of roads.  

DEM is scheduled to meet at 4.00pm today to discuss the ongoing actions.

St. Vincent and the Grenadines
Impact

Roads networks are closed.
Reports of lots of fallen trees.
Significant damage to houses. Early reports indicate over 300 homes have roof or other damage.
Power outage reported across the mainland
Two injuries reported.
Over 1000 persons are in 21 shelters

National Actions
The all clear was issued at 2.00pm today. The Prime Minister of St. Vincent and the Grenadines held a press briefing this morning to update the public on the situation and began visting impacted areas.  An emergency Cabinet Meeting is scheduled for 8.00a.m Monday, November 1, 2010.

A meeting of the Damage and Needs Assessment team was held at 6.00am this morning and teams have been deployed.

Assessments of all the utilities services are underway.  

Immediate Needs
•    1,000 Plastic sheeting
•    2,000 Hygiene and comfort kits
•    1,000 blankets

Saint Lucia
Impact
The National Emergency Management Organization has reported the “All Clear” was given at 8:00 a.m.

Initial reports indicate that there was major damage to roads and bridges.  The Choc and Bois D’Orange two major bridges on the Gros-Islet highway have sustained major damaged.

The community of Soufriere is completely cut off due to landslides.

The Hewanorra airport is still closed due to flooding

There has been major disruption to electricity and telecommunication services. There has been island wide power outage.  Landline and internet service are also unavailable in most areas on the island.

A car washed away with four (4) occupants, three were rescued and one remains missing.

National Actions
The National Emergency Management Organization has reported the “All Clear” was given at 8:00 a.m.
Initial damage assessment is currently being conducted.

Shelters are opened and occupied in Canaries, Dennery North and South, Vieux –Fort and Gros-Islet.

Immediate Needs and Priority Actions
•    1500 – 2000 Plastic Sheeting
•    1500 Hygiene Kits
•    Temporary Bridging for major bridges damaged
•    Rapid Needs Assessment Team Support

Dominica
No major damage reported

Grenada
No major damage reported

Regional Response
The Prime Minister of Barbados, the Honorable Freundel Stuart, reaffirmed the support of Barbados to assist if necessary St. Vincent and the Grenadines and Saint Lucia as the Sub-Regional Focal Point for those two countries.

Barbados and the CDEMA Coordinating Unit continue to be in contact with the impacted Participating States and will continue to monitor the situation.

The Eastern Caribbean Donor Group is meeting at the United Nations House in Barbados at 3.00pm today (October 31, 2010) to discuss immediate response and support to the affected countries.

The Regional Response Mechanism remains on standby. The CARICOM Disaster Relief Unit (CDRU) is on standby and ready to provide response support should this become necessary.

Contact Details: The CDEMA CU 24hr contact number is 1 246 425 0386