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Updated: Caribbean islands battered by hurricane
The island of St Lucia is starting a major clear-up operation after being battered by Hurricane Tomas at the weekend.
The storm also hit the island of St Vincent and is now veering towards Haiti, which was tragically hit by an earthquake in January.
Jamaica’s government issued a hurricane watch for the island late yesterday afternoon, while the Dominican Republic and southeastern Cuba have also been put on alert for later in the week.
According to the BBC, St Lucia’s Prime Minister Stephenson King has declared a state of emergency.
At least 12 people are now reported to have died on the Caribbean island after the hurricane triggered landslides.
The island’s Tourism officials issued a statement today saying the Category 1 storm “packed sustained winds and heavy rain, which resulted in fallen trees, infrastructural damage to buildings, damage to major roads consequentially restricting access to various areas, and temporary loss of utility services across the islandâ€.
They said damage was limited mainly to loss of landscaping and flooding to accommodations although a few hotels reported some structural damage.
The country expects to be back to normal by November 12, they added.
Visitors wishing to leave are being helped by the island’s Government and the private sector, while those wishing to remain on island will continue to be taken care of, said the statement.
Cruise ships will resume calls to the island on November 7.
Flights are operating to and from Barbados as normal.
Tour operator ITC Classics said every effort is being made to resume normal services as soon as possible into Hewanorra International Airport.
At present inbound flights are restricted to returning St Lucian nationals while outbound flights are returning tourists to their home countries.
Inter-island flights into and out of George FL Charles Airport in the north of the island are mostly operating as normal and providing a link international flights to and from islands such as Barbados.
A spokesman said: “We’re not receiving cancellations from our clients. There are certain clients who are unable to travel on their planned holiday to St Lucia due to the flight situation and due to some hotels being closed to new arrivals until they complete their clean up operations.
“We’re doing all we can to assist those clients with changing their holiday dates or rebooking them to alternative destinations.”
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By Bev Fearis
Bev
Editor in chief Bev Fearis has been a travel journalist for 25 years. She started her career at Travel Weekly, where she became deputy news editor, before joining Business Traveller as deputy editor and launching the magazine’s website. She has also written travel features, news and expert comment for the Guardian, Observer, Times, Telegraph, Boundless and other consumer titles and was named one of the top 50 UK travel journalists by the Press Gazette.
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