Hurricane Dean – Barbados Warning… No Direct Hit, But Don’t Stop Praying Just Yet

From the United States National Hurricane Center (Link Here)

Issued at 5am this morning. Next update 11am…

(Note: This is only a PARTIAL report. See the link above for the complete report)

WTNT34 KNHC 160913
TCPAT4
BULLETIN
HURRICANE DEAN ADVISORY NUMBER 12…CORRECTED
NWS TPC/NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER MIAMI FL AL042007
500 AM AST THU AUG 16 2007

…CORRECTED WARNINGS…

…DEAN BECOMES A HURRICANE…HURRICANE WARNINGS ISSUED…

AT 5 AM AST…0900 UTC…HURRICANE WARNINGS HAVE BEEN ISSUED FOR THE ISLANDS OF DOMINICA AND ST. LUCIA BY THEIR RESPECTIVE GOVERNMENTS. A HURRICANE WARNING MEANS THAT HURRICANE CONDITIONS ARE EXPECTED WITHIN THE WARNING AREA WITHIN THE NEXT 24 HOURS. PREPARATIONS TO PROTECT LIFE AND PROPERTY SHOULD BE RUSHED TO COMPLETION.

A HURRICANE WATCH CONTINUES FOR THE ISLANDS OF MARTINIQUE… GUADELOUPE AND ITS DEPENDENCIES…SABA…AND ST. EUSTATIUS. A HURRICANE WATCH MEANS THAT HURRICANE CONDITIONS ARE POSSIBLE WITHIN THE WATCH AREA…GENERALLY WITHIN 36 HOURS. HURRICANE OR TROPICAL STORM WARNINGS WILL LIKELY BE ISSUED FOR SOME OF THESE ISLANDS LATER THIS MORNING.

AT 5 AM AST…0900 UTC…THE METEOROLOGICAL SERVICE OF BARBADOS HAS ISSUED A TROPICAL STORM WARNING FOR BARBADOS. A TROPICAL STORM WARNING MEANS THAT TROPICAL STORM CONDITIONS ARE EXPECTED WITHIN THE WARNING AREA WITHIN THE NEXT 24 HOURS.

AT 5 AM AST…0900 UTC…THE METEOROLOGICAL SERVICE OF BARBADOS HAS ISSUED A TROPICAL STORM WATCH FOR ST. VINCENT. A TROPICAL STORM WATCH REMAINS IN EFFECT FOR ST. MAARTEN. A TROPICAL STORM WATCH MEANS THAT TROPICAL STORM CONDITIONS ARE POSSIBLE WITHIN THE WATCH AREA…GENERALLY WITHIN 36 HOURS.

INTERESTS ELSEWHERE IN THE LESSER ANTILLES…THE VIRGIN ISLAND…PUERTO RICO…AND HISPANIOLA SHOULD MONITOR THE PROGRESS
OF DEAN.

FOR STORM INFORMATION SPECIFIC TO YOUR AREA…PLEASE MONITOR PRODUCTS ISSUED BY YOUR LOCAL WEATHER OFFICE.

St. Vincent Prime Minister Slams LIAT Airlines For “Sloppy Service”

“Zero time, my ass. Just look at this thing.”… LIAT maintenance personnel examining an aircraft part and commenting on the airline’s need to audit its sourcing for “zero timed” replacement parts.

For some time, LIAT’s operations have been best described as semi-controlled chaos – with planeloads of passengers regularly arriving without their luggage and a corporate culture that totally disregards the words “schedule”, “service” and “reliability”.

Insiders also say that preventive and scheduled aircraft maintenance is haphazard and becoming a serious concern. One chap we ran into on the line suggests that a serious audit needs to be done on suspect “zero time” replacement parts that often find their way into the maintenance shop. As he put it “Zero time, my ass. Just look at this thing.”

But that is what happens when an airline runs short of money and starts to cut back on maintenance costs by turning to grey-market parts suppliers. Our source tells us that LIAT has gone through a series of parts suppliers lately and it is showing up in increased problems and aircraft downtime.

St. Vincent and the Grenadines’ Prime Minister Dr. Ralph Gonsalves is concerned about LIAT’s sloppy service, and well he should be.

But the sloppy service is only a symptom of a deeper malady that infects the entire organisation. Dr. Gonsalves should also be very concerned about aircraft maintenance and crew flight times: two safety issues that need to be addressed immediately and that are much more important than luggage or flight delays.

PM Gonsalves Slams LIAT For Sloppy Service

Prime Minister Dr. Ralph Gonsalves has slammed regional carrier LIAT for what he describes as its “sloppy” service and says it is time the airline does something about it.

Gonsalves, whose administration is one of the airline’s main shareholder governments, said his stout defence of LIAT’s strategic position must not be taken to mean that he would not be critical of the island-hopping carrier’s faults.

“Persons must not confuse my defence and support of LIAT from a strategic standpoint and assume … that I will be defending LIAT with sloppy service,” Gonsalves said.

He said he had spoken to LIAT Chairman Jean Holder as well as St. Vincent and the Grenadines’ representative on the airline’s board of directors, Isaac Solomon, and made it clear “that I want to see an improvement of service”.

… from the Jamaica Gleaner (link here)