As Hurricane Matthew pummeled New Providence on October 6, several forecasters had to be evacuated via two airport fire trucks as the Forecast Office at Lynden Pindling International Airport (LPIA) was unable to withstand the category four storm.
The fact that another hurricane season met them in that office should concern us all and ought to make us question whether the priorities of our government are in the right place.
Forecasters have long complained about the state of the office. When it rains, they have used garbage bins and newspapers to catch and soak up the water. They have also complained about a reported mold infestation.
Yesterday, the Forecast Office flooded once again as it rained heavily in New Providence. The ceiling once again leaked and ceiling tiles were out.
"I am shocked that these people are still in here," said John Pinder, head of the Bahamas Public Services Union, who visited the office wearing boots to wade through the water.
"They were supposed to have been out of here from about March or April of this year."
This is simply unacceptable.
These forecasters provide an essential service. They should be in quarters that are secure enough to withstand Category 5 hurricanes, not the run-down facility they were huddled in during Matthew.
Hundreds of millions of dollars have been spent in recent years to expand LPIA; it is just inconceivable that proper facilities for meteorological staff were not factored into this state-of-the-art upgrade.
In Grand Bahama, the Forecast Office is a cubby hole. The conditions there are also unacceptable.
The government should be embarrassed that it has failed to ensure forecasters are in proper facilities by now.
This is a long-standing problem. It is simply disgraceful that we have treated these professionals in this manner while spending money on all sorts of things that are either a waste of public funds or are not urgently needed.
We are in the hurricane belt. Fortified facilities for forecasters and others who work in the Department of Meteorology should be a priority.
The government spent around $22 million on Bahamas Junkanoo Carnival in 2015 and 2016 (combined total).
It claims the event had a GDP impact of $70 million this year, but with nothing to validate that claim many see the expenditure on carnival as wasted funds.
The Ministry of Tourism wasted $650,000 on the Caribbean Muzik Festival, which was set for October 2015, but whose main events have still not happened one year later.
There is no reporting on this. There is no accountability.
But there appears to have been a lot of foot dragging over the years when it comes to the Forecast Office.
By now, the forecasters ought to have already been out that office.
Minister of Transport and Aviation Glenys Hanna-Martin reacted with outrage last year when we revealed that the Doppler radar was down during Hurricane Joaquin.
That matter exposed our authorities' lack of appropriate care for matters connected with the Forecast Office.
They have repeatedly indicated that improvements will be made. But action has been slow in coming.
There is simply no way we should still be discussing the poor state of our Forecast Office during yet another hurricane season.
In her contribution to the budget debate in the House of Assembly in June, Hanna-Martin pointed out that, that department 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.
Hanna-Martin advised: "Presently, the [department's] Forecast Office is located in the old terminal building at LPIA, and on Friday, July 1, 2016, NAD will begin renovations to a space in the new domestic terminal, previously occupied by Sky Bahamas, in which to relocate the Forecast Office. These renovations should be completed within four weeks."
If her timeline was correct, forecasters should have made the move by the beginning of August.
But when Hurricane Matthew struck in October, they were still operating from the old building.
Disappointment
Jeffrey Simmons, senior deputy director in the Department of Meteorology, yesterday admitted his disappointment that another hurricane season met them in the old office.
Simmons added, "It's not that the directorate of the department has not been trying. We have been, but we have met some obstacles that are beyond our control. We did our best to fight through them and we were pretty close to getting out when this [storm] happened. And I am disappointed that we were not able to accomplish it. I felt we should have been able to."
National Review understands that after the strong winds busted a window around 10 a.m. on the day Matthew struck New Providence, forecasters used garbage bags to protect sensitive equipment from damage
They used an old door to try to block the window, but that did not work. Simmons then made a critical decision to protect the lives of the eight people in the office at the time. They were rescued during the peak of the storm. Winds were gusting in excess of 100 miles per hour.
"It wasn't really a pretty thing," Simmons told us yesterday.
"It was my assignment to really be there during the storm. That is something I have been doing for years; that is something I like... I was very careful in choosing who I wanted there with me.
"I just made a few little changes to the roster so I could have the staff I wanted there. I wanted people who I know could handle themselves if anything were to go wrong, but not people who would complain too much.
"I told them when we come in at 10 p.m. Wednesday night, there is a chance we would not go home until Friday morning. I got agreement. We came in prepared to stay until Friday morning.
"We were hoping things would not go bad, but things did go south, but we were able to move smoothly and get out without incident."
Thank God
Given the treacherous weather at the time of the evacuation, things could have ended a whole lot worse.
Simmons said they were evacuated to Nassau Airport Development (NAD) company offices, and were able to use the Internet and telephone system to monitor the progress of the storm.
Prior to the window busting incident, the Doppler radar also went down in the storm.
We asked Simmons whether there was any way the radar could have been better protected.
He explained, "The purpose of the meteorological equipment is to gather meteorological data, so they need to be out in the middle of these hurricanes so that we can get the data and sometimes they hold up and sometimes they don't and if they don't make it, we just look at replacing them."
Following Matthew and 10 months after plans to purchase four Doppler radar systems were announced, Hanna-Martin told The Tribune that a phased acquisition of new radars will not start until next year.
The four new radars will cost $20 million and will provide full meteorological coverage of the islands of The Bahamas, according to authorities.
Currently, the existing radar, when it works, only provides coverage 150 to 200 miles outside Nassau.
As with Hurricane Joaquin last year, the important lesson this year is that we need to be better prepared for these dangerous weather systems.
We can only hope that the people with their hands on the national purse strings -- those charged with the responsible expenditure and prioritizing of tax dollars -- finally learn this lesson, for the good of us all.
Click here to read more at The Nassau Guardian
