CIMH provides hydrological and technical support to Dominica for Tropical Storm Erika disaster response

August 31, 2015

CIMH has joined disaster response efforts in Dominica for relief of widespread damage caused by Tropical Storm Erika. Much of this effort in being coordinated by the Eastern Caribbean Partner Donor Group – Disaster Management (ECPDG-DM), which is co-chaired by the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

CIMH Technical Officer Marvin Forde joined the six-member Barbados response team that travelled to Dominica aboard Barbados Coast Guard vessel HMS Trident on Sunday, August 30th.

To support these efforts on the ground, two CIMH staff members have been deployed to Dominica to provide technical assistance to the Dominica Meteorological Service, as well as hydrological support to the Government of Dominica.

Technical Officer Marvin Forde from our Instruments Section joined the six-member Barbados response team that travelled to Dominica aboard Barbados Coast Guard vessel HMS Trident on Sunday, August 30th. While in Dominica, he will provide technical support to the Dominica Meteorological Service at Canefield Airport and Douglas-Charles Airport (formerly known as Melville Hall Airport) to repair and restore their weather observation systems. Having the meteorological services at these airports fully operational is essential to facilitate relief flights into Dominica. To support this outcome, CIMH has also sent its Automatic Weather Station to replace the station at Douglas-Charles, which was severely damaged due to flooding caused by the storm.

Principal Dr. David Farrell went to Dominica on Monday, August 31st to provide hydrological and other support to the Government of Dominica, as well as national, regional and international disaster response teams. He will assist with assessing conditions on the ground while teams continue their focus on search, rescue and recovery and getting relief supplies to victims.

During the passage of Tropical Storm Erika and Hurricane Danny, CIMH also provided CDEMA, UN Agencies and other partners with frequent weather briefs to risk-inform their planning activities.

"While CIMH continues to provide regular weather updates to CDEMA and other partners as Tropical Storm Erika moves across the Caribbean, the CIMH is focusing significant effort on Dominica as part of its ongoing commitment to the ECPDG-DM given that changing weather conditions will impact search and rescue efforts on the island," explained Dr. Farrell.

During an ECPDG-DM meeting on August 29th, CIMH provided an update on weather and impacts using the Caribbean DEWETRA Platform, which has recorded information in all nine special disaster areas that have been declared by the Government of Dominica. CIMH and other users of this platform will continuously update available information in each area based on response actions taken or any follow-up activities in order to provide response efforts with ongoing updates and support.