Country needs millions to recover

ST VINCENT (CMC):

Prime Minister Dr Ralph Gonsalves yesterday said that his government would need "tens of millions of dollars" to repair the damage caused by heavy rains over the past 24 hours.

Gonsalves told a news conference that the damage to roads, bridges and other infrastructure has followed the destruction caused by the passage of Hurricane Tomas last October.

"Damage to the infrastructure of the country apart from housing ... exceeds by far Tomas," Gonsalves said, adding "and what we have is the awesome power of nature.

"So we still need tens of millions of dollars to complete the task of Tomas and we need additionally tens of millions of dollars arising out of this tropical depression," he said as he appealed to the regional and international community for assistance.

Disaster officials said that the rains associated with a stationary trough, that also severely affected other Caribbean islands, had destroyed bridges, roads, utility poles mainly in the north of the island.

There were no reports of injuries or deaths caused by the floods associated with the rains and Gonsalves has told citizens "to keep the faith and give thanks to Almighty God despite the challenges".

Chief executive officer of the St Vincent Electricity Services Limited, Thornley Myers, said that engineers were working to restore electricity to consumers and that many persons in the northern part of the island had already had their services restored.

But he said that the restorative work on the Windward side of the country is being hampered by the damage caused to the Byera Bridge.