Tammy Becomes A Hurricane

Saint Lucia Meteorological Services announced in its noon weather report on Friday that Tropical Storm Tammy had become a hurricane.

Tammy was near latitude 14.1 degrees North, longitude 58.6 degrees West or about 165 miles or 265 kilometers East-Southeast of Martinique at 11:00 am.

The hurricane was moving toward the West-Northwest near seven mph or 11 km/h.

The Saint Lucia Meteorological Services expected the general motion would continue Friday afternoon.

The Met office anticipated a turn toward the Northwest by Friday evening, followed by a North-Northwestward and Northward turn Saturday night through Sunday night.

On Thursday, while Tammy was still a storm, Prime Minister Philip J. Pierre urged residents to remain vigilant, monitor the weather system, and trust information only from government agencies.

“They can change course at any time,” Pierre warned on Facebook regarding weather systems.

The Prime Minister’s office announced he had cut short an official overseas trip to return home.

He was originally due back on Sunday.

While in Canada, where he attended the Canada-CARICOM summit, the Saint Lucia Prime Minister virtually attended Thursday’s National Emergency Management Advisory Committee (NEMAC) meeting.

At the meeting, the Director of the Saint Lucia Meteorological Services, Andre Joyeux, explained the decision not to issue a storm watch for the Island as then Tropical Storm Tammy approached.

“Because the forecast for the system was that it would pass North of us, and we are in the Southern section of that storm, even though it is pretty close to us, we would not get those storm force winds,” he said.

Joyeux told the NEMAC meeting that a tropical storm watch would be issued 48 hours before.

“We felt it wasn’t necessary because we would not get tropical storm force winds during that 48 hours,” the Meteorological Services Director disclosed.

On Friday, a Tropical Storm Warning was in effect for most of the Leeward Islands, Barbados, and Martinique.

A Hurricane Warning was in effect for Guadeloupe, Antigua and Barbuda, Montserrat, St. Kitts and Nevis.

In addition, a Hurricane watch was in effect for Anguilla, St. Maarten, St. Martin, and St. Barthelemy.