TS Gabrielle Updates: Public Schools Are Open

September 11, 2013

[Updating] The latest statement from the EMO — issued at 6.45am on Wed, Sept 11 — said that all public schools will open today, bus service will operate as normal, and there will be sporadic ferry service due to the inclement weather.

TS Gabrielle is currently moving away from Bermuda, however a Tropical Storm Warning remains in effect for the Island and we will continue to experience storm force winds and thunderstorm activity.

The full statement from the EMO follows below:

According to the Bermuda Weather Service (BWS), while TS Gabrielle, is currently moving away from Bermuda, a Tropical Storm Warning remains in effect for the Island.

Over the course of this morning and into the afternoon, the BWS advised that the Island will continue to experience storm force winds and thunderstorm activity.

Gabrielle’s closest point of approach was around 2.00 a.m.

Overnight, the storm slowed considerably to 5 knots, and tropical storm force winds were experienced at various areas of the Island, with wind speeds between 50-60 knots.

After very careful assessment and review this morning, the Emergency Measures Organisation (EMO) advised that all Government’s public schools will open today.

And the Ministry of Education is requesting all related education staff and personnel, including teachers and Principals to report to work this morning.

As it relates to other services the buses service will operate as normal.

There will be sporadic ferry service due to the inclement weather and a further update on commuter service will be provided later this morning.

The BWS will continue to keep the public abreast of the latest forecast regarding TS Gabrielle as it makes its way out of the Bermuda area.

The list of closed schools as of last night:

  • Warwick Academy
  • Bermuda High School [BHS] – changed, will open at 11am for students
  • Somersfield Academy
  • Adult Education School

Update 7:23am Saltus school is open as is MSA. Schools that are closed include Onionpatch Academy, Little Learners Preschool, The First Church of God Nursery and Impact Mentoring Academy.

Update 7.38am: BELCO said there were scattered outages throughout the night, and at last report at approximately 2:00 AM, 57 customers were without electricity–54 in Western Parishes, 1 in Central and 2 in Eastern Parishes.

Update 7.47am: The BHS Head of School and Maintenance team are currently assessing School buildings and grounds for storm-related damage, a spokesperson said. “School will not open at 8:30am this morning. Parents will be notified by email if we decide to open the School, with a late start, this morning.The safety of our Students and Staff is of utmost importance and we appreciate your patience as we conduct a thorough assessment.”

Update 8.04am: A spokesperson for the school said, “We have assessed the Adventureland preschool and nursery property which is safe and clear. The school will be open today as we are aware some parents will still need to go to work.”

Update 8.20am: BHS is opening for staff at 10am and 11am for students. Warwick Academy has confirmed they will remain closed.

Update 8.26am: Somersfield Academy has confirmed they will remain closed today.

Update 8.56am: The full statement from BHS said, “BHS will be open today, Wednesday, September 11, 2013 for students at 11am. All students are to report to their form classes for registration at 11am. The School has been deemed safe for Staff and Students and we are grateful that TS Gabrielle did not cause extensive damage to our island. We appreciate your patience this morning.”

Update 9.27am: Little Learners Preschool is open today

BELCO says some outages that were on the 2am list were restored, while others occurred as the storm continued. As a result, this morning about 325 customers were without power with the majority in the Central parishes on two circuits – a circuit out of our Fort Hamilton substation and another circuit out of our Admiralty House substation.

Note: To effect repairs in the Central Parishes, at 9:17 AM a circuit was de-energised affecting approximately 800 customers from the north part of Hamilton toward the North Shore; this is essential, so that work can be safely completed. We expect service to those customers to be restored in approximately 45 minutes.

At this time, they expect all customers to have service restored today, but cannot provide a schedule for the restoration work. Some crews were in the field making repairs well into the night and others started work at first light this morning.

BELCO will provide ongoing updates and thanks those customers without power for their patience today, as they work to clear foliage and make repairs.

Update 9.37am: BELCO says that repairs affecting the 800 customers on north Hamilton circuit have been completed. Service has been restored to those customers.

Update 10.28am: At this hour BELCO advises that 54 customers remain without power after Tropical Storm Gabrielle, including 48 at the West End of the Island.

There are a few customers without power on Spice Hill Road where a low-voltage distribution pole has fallen; assessment of the work required for restoration in that location is underway.

BELCO will continue to provide updates, as crews work toward full system restoration.

Update 10.31am: The Onionpatch Academy is open to receive students today.

Update 10.57am: The Ministry of Education has announced that due to a power outage in the Spicelands area in Warwick, T.N. Tatem Middle School will be closing immediately.

The Ministry advised that parents are being contacted by the school regarding the collection of students.

“Efforts are currently underway to rectify the issue, and the Ministry takes this opportunity to thank parents and members of the public for their patience and cooperation”, a spokesperson said.

The Ministry of Education is advising the public and parents that a decision has been made to close the Dellwood Middle School for the remainder of today due to plumbing/water problems being experienced at the school.

Update 1.17pm: St George’s ferry service remains suspended and bus service continues to operate as normal but the ticket office at the Central Bus Terminal is temporarily closed.

Update 4.43pm: The Ministry of Public Works has reported that due to an electrical power outage this morning, the Marsh Folly Fuel Station remains closed. Efforts are currently underway to rectify the issue.

The Ministry of Public Works apologies for any inconvenience caused.

Update 4.51pm: BELCO says that at 4:30pm, 20 customers remain on BELCO’s restoration work list.

The majority of these customers have partial current, although a few have no power. Crews will continue working tonight to restore full current to these customers. The distribution of these customers is:

  • Central parishes – 4
  • Eastern parishes – 3
  • Western parishes – 13

In addition, BELCO has investigated and found no problem with the delivery of electricity to a Central parish housing complex with approximately 20 residents. They have been advised to contact their property manager to determine whether a protection switch needs to be reset, or if there is some other problem with the property’s equipment, as restoration depends on correcting a problem within the complex’s system.

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  1. Minister Dunkley: Post Tropical Storm Update | Bernews.com | September 11, 2013
  1. kat says:

    What the hell is wrong with you ***holes! One minute school is closed now its open. Bunch of dumb **** an to think you get paid for this.

    • Whistling Frog says:

      Government should have waited to the wee hours of this morning to determine the outcome of the schools be open or closed… I was saying yesterday, if the storm passes by midnight why would schools be closed in the morning?? Go figure..

  2. 1minute says:

    WTF – Last night they told us they were closed. I have made arrangements for my kids. Now my kids need to rush to get to school (they already have missed their usual bus), and I will still have to pay the person who was going to look after my kids. Who can I send the bill too?

  3. tim henry says:

    what idiots

  4. JBC says:

    My personal feeling on the school closure is the decision was made to early and now we have to scramble to get kids ready. We made plans based on their decision and with little time to react this morning we are told it has been reversed. For those who have younger children, care would have been arranged for them because there was no decision to close offices. So keep kids home and send parents to work…no sorry we changed that get them to school in less than an hour. What lesson have they learned from this?

  5. Shawn says:

    This is not right for them to announce at the last moment that schools are back in.

    Thanks Bernews for let the people know, cause not everyone listens to the radio first thing in the morning, lucky I heard it early this morning.

    They should have kept the schools closed as a precaution not saying that it will but it can get stronger and turn back within hours and or stall.

    A Bad move Minister.

  6. public student says:

    OBA better be coming to iron my school clothes and take me school! – sincerely Everybody

    • Speak Truth says:

      Your school clothes should be ready for the whole week by Sunday night!

  7. John E. Thorne says:

    As usual the Government acted prematurely last night and should have waited till this morning to make a decision on schools opening or closing. They could have avoided a lot of unneccesary confusion.

    • Fed Up says:

      and if they hadn’t and it had been really bad and schools an an announcement was made this morning about closing schools they would still have been wrong, be prepaired for anything and,you won’t have to fuss so much. That goes for all of you.

  8. Basil says:

    Just heard from Warwick that they will remain closed. Very disappointing for a fee paying private school. Well done Saltus you seem to have the most common sense on the Island.

  9. Truth is killin' me... says:

    Open, closed, open, closed…I feel for the parents!

  10. SoMuchMore says:

    to make an announcement so premature yesterday was not smart at all. sad thing is that these are our the ones in charge of our education system.

    moed let this be an example of miss judgement and next time handle such announcements better, for the sake of our children.

  11. Family Man says:

    Great leadership. Not.

    You put your right foot in,
    You put your right foot out;
    You put your right foot in,
    And you shake it all about.
    You do the hokey pokey,
    And you turn yourself around.
    That’s what it’s all about!

  12. ** says:

    you pay all this money for private schools, and they remain closed!

  13. Zombie Apocalypse says:

    Well, someone screwed up didn’t they.

  14. im not going to school u b@st@rdz

  15. Um Jus Sayin' says:

    Make up ur minds. Schools are CLOSED……Schools are OPEN. Do you realise how this affects parents and how they will transport their children to school given the short notice? They will most likely miss their school buses, and crowd the regular buses already filled with ppl trying to get to work. Make a decision and stick with it!

  16. Farmer Giles says:

    Tomorrow’s another day. Get over yourselves, no one died as a result of all this!

    Well done Bernews for trying to keep readers informed, despite the obvious confusion/inability around decision making.

    • Whistling Frog says:

      Ya, take it easy on your government Reps. Someday they’d get it right… SMH

  17. Straws says:

    Who is in charge of making this decision – Flip Flop Furbert?

  18. Real Talk (original) says:

    God you lot can complain… While I think the decision to close schools was made prematurely, lets be grateful that the island escaped any damage and loss of life… And at the end of the day we should be grateful that it’s business as usual.

    Maybe there can be some protocol established, ie, on the morning after a storm a determination is made at 7am as to whether schools will be open or closed. Presumably if things are bad enough to warrant school closures, nothing but essential services will be open anyway.

    Stop whining, be grateful it was nothing and get back to work.

    • MPP says:

      Word.

    • Oh my glory!! says:

      Thank you..
      It’s called keeping your children safe! Err on the side of caution!
      Can’t please everyone and can’t predict the weather!
      Thanks Bernews for your updates! Keep up the great work!
      In all things give thanks Bermuda!

  19. Open your eyes says:

    School’s are closed. School’s are Open. I’m guessing the “decision” makers don’t have kids. grrrr.

  20. Brenda Correia says:

    EMO/Schools
    The average person has no idea of what goes on behind the scenes…. knowing what they know based on particular data at a given point….decisions are made primarily on the side of safety not financial or convenience. Bear in mind, that weather conditions could easily deteriorate even after passing Bermuda. We all do the best we can. If the decision was made to close too early, then the powers to be will have to revise their procedures. But have some tolerance, and be grateful that this little Island was spared, and life goes on, thankfully.

  21. Purple says:

    Okay people, so the EMO said that schools were to be closed today based on information that they received at 6pm last night. Let’s not forget that:
    a) This storm was passing through the night and we wouldn’t know what conditions would be like so early the next morning
    b) Some people leave very, very early and would potentially miss any morning updates
    c) Jobs would be affected, so at least people had some hours to make alternate arrangements
    d) Schools have said that children will not be penalized for being late
    e) I would rather that the EMO err on the side of caution then be caught out if the situation was worse
    The radar was readily available for people to educate themselves on the potential severity of the storm and they would have realized that the major weather was off to our distant north-east. I showed my daughter the radar and advised her to do her homework and make sure her uniform was prepared (which she had done this past weekend anyway) as you never know what could happen.
    We need to realize that storms are unpredictable and the EMO can only go by what they see at the time, they cannot guarantee anything!
    We also have to realize that life is messy and we have to learn to roll with the punches and not kick and scream with every inconvenience. How are we going to teach our children how to tough it out if we bleat like sheep with every unexpected turn of events?
    Educate yourselves people!! Educate your OWN children!! Don’t turn somebody else’s words to gospel!!! Use your own GOD GIVEN COMMON SENSE!!!!

    Okay, I’ve had my vent. Now can we get on with it??

    • Open your eyes says:

      It’s one thing to err on the side of caution but it’s another to over-react to a little wind and rain. Come on, we’ve had winter weather worse than what we got last night. What are they going to do in February, close the schools everytime there’s a bit of wind! Don’t get me wrong, I am all for safety first, but this crap is tearing the piss!

    • Tom-e says:

      Thank you Purple for the first sensible comment! FYI – Common sense is not so common.

      Parents: What happened to preparing your kids school uniforms over the weekend for the week ahead???

      All everybody wants to do is complain, complain, complain! How about give THANKS the island was spared once again SMDH!!!!

  22. Kraken says:

    Just to clarify, I assume all these complainers are unemployed and had planned to just turn the tv on once their kids were up…..

    if not, you should have been up at the exact same time, got the kids their breakfast and got ready to take the kids to their day care or sitter so that you could get to work as you do every other school day. The only exception is that you may have had to get them in their school clothes at the last minute vs. other clothes….?

    I fail to see how your time frame has been affected in any way, except potentially having to cancel on the sitter, and I for one do not believe that any of you have to still pay that person.

    A good parent would simply say, “nice, school is back on, now my child will get to continue their education and not miss out on learning and spending time with his / her peers. Let’s hustle this am and try and make the arrangements to get them safely to school”

    Children learn resilience from their parents….seems a bunch of kids from this forum are out of luck.

    • SMH says:

      The point is some people had to make other arrangements when the first announcement was made. Then to hear that school was open on the 7am news and hopefully all heard the news. If not they had to wait on confirmation from others or the 8am news. How about those that did not have lights what radio!! What alarm clock!

      On the evening news they should have said schools may possibly be closed like the last government did. We have never had such confusion over if the schools are open or closed. Since they said it was closed they should have just bit the bullet and said it will remain closed.

      Maybe you don’t have younger kids or have to transport them to two different schools. I have sucked it up and gotten over it but the point is OBA is running a country not their own little person cheesy business they flip the door sign open, closed or gone for lunch be back in 30 minutes.

    • Zombie Apocalypse says:

      I guess in your mind people wake up in the morning, have a leisurely breakfast listening to the radio, then leave their house at about 8.15am, after the morning’s announcement about whether or not schools will be open today.

      For most people it isn’t like that. There were numerous announcements last night that schools would be closed. Not ‘might’ be closed: WOULD be closed. That, certainly for me, led to scrambling around making sure arrangements were in place accordingly.

      This morning at 7.30am there was NOTHING on any government website that indicated anything had changed.

      At 8.45am, when I arrived at work, I started to hear schools were open. Well, thanks a lot. Now I guess it’s my problem to change everything again.

      It definitely has cost me money, as well as making several people screw around for an hour trying to get my kids to school now.

    • kieth,n says:

      sound like from the brady bunch,, you have the perfect home sounds like,white fence,dog named fido

  23. watching says:

    Well the OBA and their EMO and their Minister of Education certainly dropped the ball on this one didnt they?

    • Sisu says:

      how?

      • watching says:

        They should have said to prepare in case schools are closed, but a final decision will be communicated first thing in the morning.
        Instead they closed all schools and people went to sleep expecting schools to remain closed, and now there is all this confusion with parents trying to get everyone to school on time.

        But we will give them a pass…its their first tropical storm…

        Minister Brangman likely didn’t know what to do, so his PS had to make the decision anyway.

        • Sisu says:

          And if all power was lost then what? How would you want the message to be communicated then? And why were kids sleeping in past regular waking hours if they had places to be (babysitters, etc.)? No rush needed due to the change in plans. Take kid to place A instead of place B. Is it really that difficult?? And the schools even said nobody would get in trouble for being late today. But nothing like an opportunity for taking pot-shots at the OBA.

          • Amazed says:

            If schools are to be closed then businesses should close as well. If safety was a concern, as minister says, then we, the working public should’ve been told to stay home too. What sense is it to stress out a parent of small kids to try and find a sitter when the parent can stay home and watch their own kids. Ill thought out, i’m sorry.

    • Concerned Citizen says:

      Exactly @watching! Notice how some bloggers try to defend the OBA and Minister Nalton For THEIR poor decision making? They try and blame the civil servants a, lol. Clueless bunch they are! Bottom line is the OBA acted to hastily, and they obviously cannot read a weather report! Smh

  24. Joyfully Yours says:

    How can you make an official announcement that ‘SCHOOLS WILL BE CLOSED’ tomorrow and then we wake up, after making other arrangements, to hear ‘schools will be open’ Come on PLEASE get your communication in order!!! Totally UN-ACCEPTABLE!!

  25. Tired says:

    What the hack is wrong with you simple people. If they would have waited until later, you people would have stilled complained. “Why did you wait so long to tell us, now we have to make arrangements for our children” Be damned if you do, and damned if you don’t. If they had left all the schools open, and something bad had happened, you would still complained. There is just no pleasing some people.

    • Vote for Me says:

      Simple solution – Government should have announced that the decision would be made in the morning (say 6 am) once we have assessed the impact of the storm.

  26. haha says:

    NEXT TIME ALL YOU COMPLAINING PARENTS/EVERYONE ELSE….BE PREPARED FOR EVERYTHING AND ANYTHING THEN YOU WON’T HAVE TO BI**H AND MOAN LIKE YOU ALWAYS DO WHEN SOMETHING DOESN’T GO YOUR WAY, SOUND LIKE YOUR CHILDREN, GROW UP!!

    If you would have been prepared this wouldn’t have even mattered. Lazy f***s!

  27. RME says:

    Bernews,

    FYI – Onionpatch Academy is now open.

  28. John E. Thorne says:

    The bottom line is the decision should have been made this morning and what the government could have said last night is make contingency plans just in case we have to close the schools in the morning.
    Basic common sense which unfortunately is lacking with far too many people nowadays.

  29. Vote for Me says:

    This fiasco of schools open / schools closed would be a joke if it was not so serious. The decision to close the schools as of 6 pm yesterday was clearly premature. Many commented about this yesterday so it is nto a case of ‘hindsight is 20/20.’

    The fact is that the anticipated winds were expected to be in the order of 50 knots which has the POTENTIAL to cause wind damage and possibly flooding. We also know that in many cases the storms are unpredictable and sometimes reduce in strength before reaching Bermuda.

    Knowing all of this, it wouod have been more pratical to state that the decison on whether or not to close schools will be made by 6 AM. Therefore parents would have been able to have a ‘plan A’ and ‘plan B’.

    As stated yesterday, SCHOOLS WOULD BE CLOSED!! Therefore parents only needed one plan, to provide alternate care for their children. For those without children, there is a huge difference in preparing a child for a school day vs a non school day. This includes prior night preparation, homework, breakfast, bedtime etc. In addition, many (most) children catch buses to school. Therefore to find out UNEXPECTEDLY that school is in fact open can cause virtual chaos in the morning if children who are sleeping soundly are suddenly told to get up and get ready for school.

    Another reality is that not everyone gets up in the morning and listens to the radio etc. Some choose to listen to music or have a ‘no radio, quiet morning’. Therefore many would not have heard about schools being open until 7:30 or later.

    A final point – the Ministry advised that schools would be closed for children but teachers and principals had to report to school. Not sure why teaching faculty would be at school without children.

    The solution – this is not an OBA / PLP problem. It is a Bermuda problem and I hope that the EMO and decision makers take steps to learn from this unfortunate disruption to the COUNTRY and make more appropriate decisions next time.

    • Purple says:

      Your 6AM notification comment doesn’t hold water when you go on to state that some people choose to listen to music or have a ‘no radio, quiet morning’. When looking down the barrel of a potential strike from a Tropical Storm or Hurricane, that is a very bad decision on the parents’ part.

      We have to accept that we live in a part of the world where the weather does what it will and we have to accept that. What is said at night might change at the drop of a hat the next day and we have to be prepared. Parents should ALWAYS have a plan A or B – regardless.

      Stop blaming the powers that be until YOU are put in the same situation of having to move children island wide. Not as easy as it sounds.

  30. kieth,n says:

    what made then even think the storm was that serious to even shut down schools?

  31. Tom-e says:

    Children learn from their parents and other adults around them…nice going on setting an example on how to be prepared for anything; sometimes you have to just roll with the punches…Simple life lesson that goes a long way.

    I feel bad for the kids of these complainers all they are learning is how to b*tch and moan when things don’t go their way. FYI – Life is not always peaches and cream. Get over yourselves and set a good example for our youth!! And you wonder why…….

  32. Winnie Dread says:

    Did a TS pass by, geez with modern technology we could not make a better call? Ah well…… this was a gentle breeze compared to winter storms i’ve seen and everything was kept running.

  33. Speak Truth says:

    Grumble, grumble, grumble – get on with it people, everyone is alive and well – deal with life as it comes and stop complaining OMGoodness !!!

  34. concerned says:

    Can someone find out what is the issue at TNTatem School. Gov’t says school is open and at present the kids are being sent home.

  35. UseYaTool says:

    Why didn’t they just use the tool they put into place?!?!?! Everyone checks they phones; not everyone listens to the radio.

    http://bernews.com/2013/07/minister-hurricane-info-text-alerts-to-be-sent/

    “Under a Memorandum of Understanding, these two companies have agreed to receive important advisories from the EMO and to forward them to their customer base. Things like important hurricane weather updates, the closure of the Causeway, any information regarding schools or summer camps and also public transport will form part of this improved communication with the public.

  36. Joyfully Yours says:

    OBVIOUSLY, some do NOT have a home with children in it so will not understand that even the most organized – Clothes laid out, lunches packed etc. etc. hearing a last minute change AFTER you hve already ARIVED at your job and made arrangements for a pre-schooler, a primary schooler and a middle-schooler… we don’t have a car to just hop in, we do PTB. We travel from one end of the island to the other to get to work! Hello? Have already made arrangements for a sitter etc. etc. He who feels it knows it. So for some it was great hearing last minute schools now open because they had no arrangements in place and for others who had already made arrangements and pinked up $$$ for a sitter, transport etc. etc. it was not !

  37. O'Brien says:

    Guess Saltus wasn’t so dumb for waiting till this morning after all. Smdh…

  38. 1minute says:

    So, what happened to the buses? After all that – closed – open… our childern got ready for school, went to the bus stop and waited nearly 45 minutes and no bus came. They got soaked from the rain so I told them to go back home.

  39. get over it says:

    you’re all complaining now, but if they DIDN’T cancel school and there was a bit of wind and rain and your children had to catch the bus, you would then complain that they didn’t cancel school. Maybe it was cancelled because the storm was supposed to be worse and last longer, maybe they were worried about power being out or debris on the road or that some roads may be flooded. next time they won’t cancel school and consider the safety of your children and you will still complain.

    Can anything make you complainers happy?

  40. Big Boss says:

    I am not a supporter of the OBA, far from it, however this govt or the previous one, never could please everyone when it came to school closures due to weather related circumstances. They erred on the side of caution, that’s their job.
    So the storm wasn’t as bad has had been predicted, Thank God, so they reversed their earlier decision, again that’s their job. Let’s all stop whining and get the kids to school. I have a young child in school as well, so the decision affected me as well

    OBA Govt, just a thought. If a storm comes through during the night,don’t make a decision until the extent of the damage, if any, has been accessed to determine if it will necessiate a school closing.

  41. BRAVP says:

    Bermudians STOP COMPLAINING about such little things. Don’t we have other important issues to deal with? It’s not like this is the FIRST storm to the island. Give thanks that the storm went away and did not impact the island. Get up take your children to school. If or when you hang out late nights, don’t you still get them to school. If they are late, due to this short notice, the school will understand. And who in the ‘hell’ gets their children’s school clothes ready in the morning unless their ‘special wait for me’ bus leaves at 10.00 a.m. As far as I am concerned, it’s not the bus that is a problem, it the adult who might want a paid day off@!

  42. A Tad Premature says:

    Well personally I also felt that it was a bit premature to annouce that they will be closed last night. I think maybe in the future rather then saying that it will be closed, say that it may be closed and to tune in at 6 am name a radio station for the update. With technology nowadays news travels relatively fast, emails, texts ect. I dont listen to the radio mornings but i did recieve word via cellphone. My business was open as usual however it wasnt until i was half way into hamilton that i recieved word that schools will be open, then had to go pick up my child and driveback home to get dressed, prepare lunch ect. It wasnt that big of a fuss, but it was pretty annoying the flip flopping. I also allowed my child to stay up past regular bedtime. I know most parents did for older kids. I will never forget when hurricane emily came and we all stood by the radio in our school clothes waiting to hear whether school will be closed.