Dominica’s Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerritt publicly thanked God for his many blessings yesterday as the center of Tropical Storm Isaac moved into the Caribbean Sea.
Skerritt received the news from the Dominica Meteorological Service as he was being interviewed on state owned DBS Radio station.
PM Skerritt declared “This good news. The center of the storm has gone into the Caribbean Sea. We are waiting for the entire system to move away from Dominica and in the next couple hours an assessment will be made so that we can advise the nation on the action that we take in that situation. We thank God for his many blessings,” the prime minister stated.
The prime minister said “for me personally and I am hoping for all Christians and people who believe there is a God, we must attribute the weakening of the storm to the good lord’s efforts. He said the Bible is clear that God does not give you more than you can bear, “we can’t handle anymore and he will spear us.”
Despite the good news, the prime minister urged residents to continue to be vigilant as the outer bands of the system could still cause heavy rainfall on the island.
He said, “We continue to monitor, we continue to ask people to stay indoors as far as possible, because while it may not be raining in Roseau, it may have a lot of rain in the mountains and that may cause rivers to flow heavily and get to us much quicker than expected.”
A decision on when a curfew imposed ahead of the passage of Isaac was to have been made by last evening and an announcement made on whether schools would reopen.
Several schools were being used as shelters and were occupied by persons who sought refuge ahead of the passage of the Tropical Storm.
Skerritt said while Dominica had been spared, he continued to pray and urged the nation to pray for the Carolinas in the United States where Florence was expected to hit.
The Dominican leader again appealed to the international community to do more to address the question of climate change, “we have said this is the cause of the frequency and ferocity of the storms.”
Every part of the world Skerritt said “is impacted and affected by climate change.”
Skerritt urged nations to step up to the plate “they talk about money but the effecting of the commitment ends at the promise, for years we simply kicking the can down the road and nobody is picking it up,” he said.
The Met Office said Isaac had become less organised and had become a weak Tropical Storm.
At 2 pm yesterday the centre of Tropical Storm Isaac was located near 14.9W 62.5N or about 130 km west-southwest of Dominica, moving W at 30 km/h with maximum sustained winds of 75 km/h.
While a tropical storm warning remained in effect for Guadeloupe, Dominica and Martinique it was expected to be discontinued later in the day.