Sint-Maarten – 3rd post hurricane gonzalo national clean up and recovery

On Wednesday COPI (operational disaster management group) met to assess the current recovery phase of the country. Additional information will be provided later in the day Wednesday or early evening as the national cleanup effort continues and additional updates come in from the various Emergency Support Functions that are leading the national clean up and recovery effort.

INTRODUCTION:

This is the third update in connection with the post-Hurricane Gonzalo recovery phase. COPI continues to receive on-going assessment reports as recovery and cleanup efforts continue:

ELECTRICITY/WATER SUPPLY:

• GEBE continues to work to repair the national grid where current outages exist. The utility company is first addressing any potential dangers that may exist. There are several crews from GEBE that are working on addressing the situation with downed poles.

• Water: there are some challenges with respect to water resumption in the areas of South Reward (hill side area), Mary’s Fancy and Belvedere. The resumption of water services is taking place in a cautious manner in order to avoid water leakage into the system.  An alternative temporary water supply source is also being worked on for those areas mentioned above that doesn’t have piped water.  

SCHOOLS:

• It has been decided that schools will remain closed until Monday, October 20.  This would allow adequate time for cleanup activities and repairs to take place.
• The Ministry of Education will meet with school management/boards on Friday, October 17 to assess the overall progress being made in connection with the cleanup/repairs of schools in order to determine when schools can re-open.  A further update will be provided based on the outcome of this meeting on Friday as all schools and the public works department will work closely in the interest of a safe school environment for the students.

PORT OPERATIONS:

• Cargo: the cargo port operations are up and running;
• Cruise: preparations are well underway to make the cruise facilities ready, and additional information will be forthcoming with respect to this;

NATIONAL CLEAN CONTINUES:

• Landfill is open: persons taking debris to the landfill need to be patient and wait their turn to enter the area;
• Clean up continues under the Ministry VROMI and private contractors;
• Large Green Waste Bins: have been placed at various locations along the main roads to collect hurricane related debris; these will also be placed along secondary roads as well;
• Homeowners and businesses busy with cleanup, do not dump bush or tree trimmings or other garbage/debris on top of GEBE water meters or electrical meters; this is to prevent damage to the aforementioned and outage of service to consumers;
• Mudslides/Rock falls: residents in hilly areas should be mindful of the aforementioned;
• Retaining Walls: if a retaining wall has given away at your home, do not remove it at this point in time; let the ground dry out; removing it now would create further slippage of earth.