Prime Minister Philip J. Pierre issued an all-clear for utility companies to begin assessments and repairs Monday night and an all-clear for the rest of the country as of 5:00 am on Tuesday.
Pierre said businesses and government offices were expected to reopen Tuesday and schools the following day.
In addition, he announced that the Ministry of Education would release the CPEA results on Wednesday.
Parliamentary representatives and the 18 District Disaster Management Committees were gathering and relaying information from various constituencies to the National Emergency Operations Center for a preliminary islandwide damage assessment.
But in the interim, there have been confirmed reports of of fallen trees, blocked roads and waterways, water, power and telecommunication services outages and widespread damage to banana farms.
The Prime Minister also disclosed ‘significant damage’ at the Soufriere Waterfront and Cemetery area, flooding in Laborie, particularly at the Cross Over Park and waterfront areas.
In addition, Pierre said the Vieux Fort Police Jetty has been completely destroyed.Meanwhile, in the north of the island, there were landslides and loss of homes in the Hospital Road and Faux-a-Chaud areas with reports of damaged roofs island wide and displacements of families in Anse La Raye and Canaries.
The Prime Minister emphasised that the reports were preliminary and first responders would provide assessments in 48 hours to the National Emergency Operations Centre.
“I have instructed that the Ministry of Infrastructure conduct an island wide assessment of damage to national infrastructure and report to me in 7 days so that rebuilding efforts can commence,” he stated.
“Let us thank God that our country was spared the worse of what could have been a disastrous weather event. I implore you to continue to remain in a state of preparedness as this is only the beginning of an active Hurricane Season,” Pierre asserted.
At the same time, he called on Saint Lucians to respond when asked to assist the people of Grenada, Petit Martinique, Carriacou, and St. Vincent and the Grenadines experienced after Hurricane Beryl inflicted serious damage to the Islands.
“The Government of Saint Lucia stands ready to assist our fellow CARICOM neighbours. Our collective thoughts and prayers go out to our brothers and sisters at this time,” Pierre stated.
