‘We Were Not Lucky, We Are Ready & Strong’
We should not say that Bermuda was “spared” or “lucky”, but instead say we are “ready” and “strong”, National Security Minister Jeff Baron said following the direct hit from Hurricane Nicole.
Hurricane Nicole was one of the strongest storms on record to hit Bermuda in modern times, with the maximum wind speed recorded being a massive gust of 118kt [136mph or 217km/hr].
The U.S. National Hurricane Center noted that “while hurricanes often affect Bermuda, a hurricane this strong is rare. There have only been 7 major hurricanes that have passed within 40 nautical miles of Bermuda in the Atlantic hurricane database, which goes back to 1851.”
Despite this direct hit from a major hurricane, the island was back in business in short order, with roads cleared, the Causeway and airport re-opening, a cruise ship arriving, and businesses back serving customers.
There were widespread power outages, with approximately 90% of the island losing power, however BELCO restored power to 98% of those affected within 72 hours, with just over 500 customers remaining without power out of the 27,431 customers who lost power due to the hurricane.
Speaking at an EMO briefing after the hurricane, Minister Baron said, “We need to stop saying we that Bermuda was spared, indeed we should be saying we were ready, because we were.
“We should stop saying we were lucky with this storm, instead we should say we were strong. And let us never forget that we, as a community and as a people, united.”
“Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain. Unless the Lord watches over the city, the watchman stays awake in vain.”
Psalms 127:1
Well acegirl that was born in Greece said we are lucky.
LMFAO
the sentiment that we weren’t lucky or spared is pure human arrogance.
when it comes to fury of mother nature, humans are no match.
the only thing humans can do is be as prepared as possible and after that it is “Quo Fata Ferunt”.
We are strong but there is a bit of luck also. The storm was moving fast and Fay and Gonzalo cleared a lot of vulnerable items two years ago. We should always be proud of our legacy of building strong buildings, having good knowledge of mother nature and just being good Bermudians who know what it means to live on a little island in the middle of nowhere.
Bermuda!
Thank our Forefathers for having Wisdom to build our dwellings out of limestone. No one respect de Old Cedar Tree !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Yup, everyone was at work Friday providing whatever services their companies provide except the civil service, essential services excepted. It was a day off for the Government admin people, TCD, Imigration etc.
I’m with you on this one. With other services up and running, I don’t understand why the government offices were closed.
@Triangle Drifter
While there are many issues and problems regarding our civil service, this is a pretty choice for criticism. There were many private companies that allowed their employees to stay home to clean up, or to look after children that were unable to attend schools.
You lose credibility by making silly remarks like this.
Schools were closed, so what are parents to do? I wasn’t at work on Friday and I’m not government. Stop assuming.
Government Office Buildings were barricaded for the Storm on Wednesday. Because TS winds were expected to continue until late in the evening on Thursday, it was decided that Works and Engineering personnel would not be able to open up buildings until Friday morning.
Therefore, in order to not interfere with W&E recovery efforts and to not pose a safety risk to civil servants (and in light of the fact that many would have had children at home re schools continuing to be closed), a preemptive decision was taken not to require their attendance on Friday.
Furthermore, the Govt would have coordinated with the EMO, who in all likelihood would have wanted the roads cleared immediately after the storm so that they would be free for emergency vehicles.
Finally, there were a lot of companies who were not open on Friday. For those who were, you paint this as some kind of virtue when it is anything but. It showed no forethought to employees who might needed to have watched their kids and repair any damage caused. It also could have led to emergency response teams being overstretched in the event that Friday morning, the roads were not as clear as we would have liked or if there were medical emergencies etc.
Like noncents, while they are far from perfect and can frustrate us at times, this is one issue that the civil service does NOT deserve criticism.
Thats how I feel – let people have a damned day off to clean up the mess – geeze – money hungry tyrants running this place…
No, we were lucky
Spared the eastern eyewall, and spared sitting in it for an hour or 2 instead of in the calm eye. Spared having all of the wind from one direction, giving things close to breaking point a break
Yes Bermuda is strong, and ready, there is no doubt. But we also got lucky
Well prepared yes, but also very fortunate that the closest point was approaching low tide. If it had been approaching high tide, it would have looked a little bit different all around Bermuda.
We WERE lucky.
Mmmm’kaaaayyyyy?
The weather man this morning said that Bermuda should be thankful Min. Baron. Please remember that Titanic said it was strong too.
To say being ready is all that is needed to dodge a Cat 3 Hurricane is just ignorant. Are you saying that Haiti, Cuba and Bahamas were not ready? They did everything we did and most of their houses (Bahamas and Cuba) were built from stone, same as Bermuda. Would it hurt to give God the glory, thanks and praise????? We don’t know why things turn out the way they do so let’s all just give thanks.
I agree!
Let’s not boast in our strength.
Amen.
Jeffy, you can take the cape off now. There’s a good lad.