By Gemma Handy
Tropical Storm Ernesto toppled trees and sparked an island-wide power outage when it skimmed Antigua on Tuesday morning. But with the system set to reach hurricane strength as it barrels on to the north, local residents were thankful to emerge otherwise unscathed.
Ernesto’s wind speeds reached just shy of 50mph while over the island, which also received an inch of rain, the country’s Met Office confirmed.
Barbuda experienced “a few showers” and light winds, Council Chairman Devon Warner said.
The Met Office issued the all-clear at 2pm yesterday and public sector employees – who were ordered to stay home Monday – are expected back at work today, Information Minister Melford Nicholas confirmed to Observer.
VC Bird International Airport reopened for regular commercial flights at 3pm Tuesday. The Sir Lester Bird Medical Centre will also resume regular operations today.
A fault on the line between the Belmont and Friars Hill substations was blamed for the collapse of the electricity network at 8.45am yesterday. At the time, three of APUA’s 26 feeders were open, Electricity Business Unit Manager Andre Matthias told Observer.
He said investigations were still underway but that state utility firm bosses believe the fault was coupled with the “mis-operation of a protection relay”.
The grid was re-energised at 10.15am but high winds quickly severed connection again in several areas.
By 3pm yesterday afternoon, 85 percent of the network was restored, Matthias said.
He explained that APUA staff would be working until around 8pm in a bid to get everywhere reconnected, bar “one or two small pockets”.
Problem areas included some parts of St John’s and Freetown, he said.
Matthias emphasised that while APUA de-energises the grid as a precautionary measure in the event of a strong tropical storm or hurricane, Tuesday’s outage was due to circumstances beyond the company’s control.
He conceded that there is “always room for improvement” when it comes to ensuring consistent electricity supply.
“Even though we have done quite a bit of vegetation clearing around the line recently, there has been quite a bit of rain so it grows back in a very short time,” he said. “But there is more we can do in terms of maintenance of lines.”
Meanwhile, the National Office of Disaster Services (NODS) said its district disaster coordinators had reported “minimum damage in some areas” but no injuries.
“We have seen fallen trees on electrical poles and some other minor damage around some of the districts,” NODS’ spokeswoman Midcie Francis said.
“We continue to encourage residents to be safe. We are still in the hurricane season and we should continue to be in a state of readiness for whatever may come our way,” she warned.
“We encourage persons to pay attention to local media and get familiar with things like the nearest shelters, where they’re located, and what you should be taking to the shelter if you decide to evacuate your residence.
“We update our Facebook and Instagram pages very regularly and we want residents to pay attention to information coming from both NODS and the Met Office,” Francis added.
