Prime Minister Godwin Friday says the government will not announce an estimate of the damage caused by Tuesday’s rainstorm until assessments are complete, as officials work to verify the impact on homes, businesses and public infrastructure.
He told a press conference in Kingstown on Friday that the media had asked him about the estimated cost of the damage as he was visiting affected areas on Tuesday.
“It’s kind of premature. I’m not going to come out here like some people used to say, … ‘There’s so many hundreds or millions’ or whatever. First, we do our work, we assess,” the prime minister said.
He said the assessment process would take time but was necessary to establish a credible picture of the damage and identify where help is needed.
“The criterion upon which we determine the assistance is the need that is reported to us,” Friday said.
“We have seen some of the areas for ourselves that were affected, but we also have the work that is being done by the professionals who will report as to what the extent of the damage and where exactly, and what sort of needs there are to be met,” he said.
He noted that while schools, health facilities, businesses and infrastructure had been affected, and some families had been displaced, there were no reports of deaths, injuries or missing people.
Meanwhile, acting Director of the National Emergency Management Organisation (NEMO) Kenton Stoddard said at the press conference that the agency had received 154 verified incident reports.
Those included 74 reports of flooding, 37 landslides and 18 retaining-wall issues.
“Just about six homes have been totally lost,” Stoddard said, adding that other homes were “severely, significantly compromised.”
He said as many as 20 homes in the Buccament area were “teetering on the edge”.
Stoddard reported that 23 people were seeking shelter because of the flooding. Eleven were staying in a shelter in Questelles, he said, while 12 were staying with families in private homes.
He noted that this was in addition to 77 people who remained in shelters following Hurricane Beryl, which impacted St. Vincent and the Grenadines on July 1, 2024.
Stoddard said rainfall from this week’s tropical wave reached about 130 mm (5 in.) over 24 hours in some areas, while Majorca recorded approximately 159 mm (6 in.).
He said total rainfall in June was 101 mm and contrasted that with the recent event, when 59 mm fell in a peak one-hour period.
Nine health facilities were affected, and the country’s main water-supply systems experienced disruption.
Stoddard said 92% of the systems were back up and running, while challenges remained at the Majorca intake and along the mains.
Three multi-agency teams, supported by NEMO, were assessing affected areas including Lower Questelles, Mesopotamia and Buccament.
Stoddard said the teams were still working to gather information from all affected families and that businesses in Kingstown also needed assessment.
“There’s still a lot to do in terms of the assessment and ensuring that we really capture all impacted communities, all impacted persons,” he said.
NEMO was hoping the teams would complete this stage of the assessment later Friday afternoon, with initial costing expected early next week.
Stoddard said a deeper assessment of affected sectors and critical infrastructure would come afterwards.
Stoddard described the response as a Level 1 emergency, saying it would be managed with the country’s own resources.
He said NEMO was continuing to support cleanup efforts and was working to determine what additional supplies might be needed.