in St Lucia
St Lucia needs tens of millions of dollars to get back on its feet, says Prime Minister Kenny Anthony.He made the comment to 16 members of the T&T media who accompanied officials from the Office and Disaster Preparedness (ODPM) and Office of the Prime Minister to St Lucia yesterday, to drop off aid supplies in the wake of flooding and landslides which ravaged that country earlier this week.
Anthony said the latest disaster would be hard to recover from quickly, especially since the island was just recovering from Hurricane Thomas which dealt a terrible blow to St Lucia.He said in his constituency of Vieux Fort South, residents had lost everything as flood waters rose to as high as eight feet. Some 500 residents, Anthony said, were now in shelters.
Recounting the moments leading up to the storm, Anthony said: "By five o'clock on Christmas Eve it was fairly clear what was happening. I live in the area close to the city on a hill and I was marooned for quite a while. I couldn't leave my home."On a brief tour of the island yesterday, huge trees, mounds of sand and other debris were strewn across roadways.Highways and other major roads were ripped apart by powerful flood waters, leaving gaping holes, some deep as eight metres.
Anthony said communities in Bexon were the most affected, as they also suffered severe devastation by Hurricane Thomas some three years ago.Homes remained completely submerged yesterday in Vieux Fort South, the hardest hit area in St Lucia.Anthony said it had been very distressing that some people had still not been able to return to their homes because they were filled with mud and debris.
He said: "This is very distressing to say the least. Many people have not ben able to return to their homes because their homes are filled with mud and debris."And so it is going to take some time for them to clean their homes and return," he added.Anthony praised the efforts of the T&T Government, saying T&T was the first responder to lend assistance.Meanwhile, press secretary to St Lucia PM, Jadia Jn Pierre, said the St Lucian government was eternally grateful to T&T.
"Your assistance would bring smiles to many in St Lucia," she said, adding the T&T government was one of the first responders.Members of the T&T media left Piarco International Airport yesterday afternoon on a CAL 737 aircraft which took aid supplies to the island, which was battered by flooding on Christmas Day.St Vincent and the Grenadines and Dominica were also ravaged by flooding due to the powerful weather system, which left 14 people dead–eight in St Vincent and six in St Lucia.
On Thursday, Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar, chairman of Caricom and lead Prime Minister on security in the region, visited St Lucia after mandating the ODPM to assist that country with emergency supplies including canned goods, biscuits, infant formula, mattresses, blankets, hygiene kits, disaster kits and first aid kits.St Lucia was the only island to request assistance from T&T. Also on Thursday, the T&T Air Guard made two trips to the island and delivered 100 cases of water.