The forecast office at LPIA again became a hazardous work area after rains on Sunday. Forecasters have long complained abuot the state of the facility. Several of them had to be evacuated in the middle of Hurricane Matthew.

Minister of Transport and Aviation Glenys Hanna-Martin said yesterday that while forecasters in the Forecast Office at Lynden Pindling International Airport (LPIA) should have been relocated to "appropriate accommodations" sooner, those forecasters have been moved out of that building and will not return.

"They are out of that location permanently," Hanna-Martin said.

"They will not be going back there."

On Sunday, forecasters were still working from that office.

And yesterday, meteorological observers continued to work at the Forecast Office as they are unable to do readings from anywhere else, given that the equipment is still connected, Director of the Department of Meteorology Trevor Basden acknowledged.

Early yesterday morning, Velenzo Miller, a meteorological observer, suffered a nasty fall while at the Forecast Office. He had to be carried away by ambulance.

Miller told The Nassau Guardian he fell while navigating the water and muck on the floor from the previous day's rainstorm.

Miller was also one of the staff members of the Department of Meteorology who had to be evacuated in airport fire trucks in the middle of Hurricane Matthew on October 6.

During the heavy rainfall that impacted New Providence on Sunday, the Forecast Office flooded again as water seeped through the ceiling, breaking apart several of the ceiling tiles.

According to Hanna-Martin, Basden made the decision to move forecasters back into the building following the passage of Matthew after "remedial works were undertaken and it was anticipated that those works would have been sufficient".

In a separate interview, Basden said the Forecast Office was "cleaned up", but the persistent rain on Sunday exposed "other aspects of the roof that was previously not noted as leaking, that was leaking".

Asked whether the building has been condemned, Hanna-Martin said that determination would be made by the Ministry of Works.

"I know one thing, our staff will not be in there," she insisted.

"But in terms of whether [the building] has no value, from a construction point of view, I am not able to speak to that.

"I don't know. But I do know that we will not be using that building."

Hanna-Martin said the Nassau Airport Development Company (NAD) may have some future plans for the building, noting that it has been exploring several options.

Asked to respond to criticisms that the forecasters should not have been stationed at the Forecast Office during Matthew, Hanna-Martin said, "We are a hardworking group of professionals.

"During the storm, we are dependent on them.

"... I think that the decision was made by the director that they should be there.

"But it was not anticipated that they would have been in a crisis situation of that nature.

"I don't think that was anticipated. I don't know, but I don't think so.

"To the criticism or non-criticism, from a factual point of view, they require moving from that building to appropriate accommodations, pure and simple.

"It should have happened sooner rather than later, but they are out now, and they won't be going back in there."

As it relates to the new premises, Hanna-Martin said the work is near completion.

"They are doing cabling and this, that and the next, and we are finishing that now," she said.

"So, we are waiting for that to be finished for them to go in permanent premises.

"We thought they (forecasters) would be [there] a few weeks [ago] and we lost the timelines for one reason or another. But, it has been a continuous process to get them out of there.

"We lost several weeks in our timeline. Unfortunately, in the middle of that lost timeline, we had a category three hurricane, which impacted the airport, not just them. Other things happened there, so they got affected, but the problem with them is that they are on the job during those hours.

"Other areas probably were vacant, but because of the nature of the work they were actually in position."

Hanna-Martin called the evacuation and the potential risk to forecasters "very unfortunate".

She repeated, "We want them out. We have wanted them out. And, they are not going back in, bottom line.
She said the relocation process was in the final phases, but did not provide a new relocation date.

In the interim, forecasters have been stationed at NAD's Emergency Operations Centre, in the main terminal of LPIA, and the upper air building near the Doppler Radar, according to Basden.

In her contribution to the budget debate in Parliament in June, Hanna-Martin pointed out that, that Department of Meteorology is a critical agency for The Bahamas, having regard to our low-lying geography and our consequent vulnerabilities to severe weather patterns, climate change and hurricanes.

Royston Jones Jr., Guardian Staff Reporter

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