Barbados on alert for Tropical Storm Kirk

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, CMC- Acting Prime Minister and Attorney General Dale Marshall says there will be no national shutdown of the country due to the passage of Tropical Storm Kirk.

In an address Thursday morning, Marshall said the decision was made following a briefing with the officials from the Meteorological Service. 

“They have briefed us and it is the view of the Met Office that while Barbados will experience some gusts and some rain, they are not of the magnitude that would warrant a national shutdown. In their view, Barbados can proceed about its normal course of business.”

In the address delivered on radio, he said authorities would continue to monitor the situation as conditions deteriorate, adding that if the need arises for the early closure of businesses then that decision would be made.

“So let us get on with our lives, let us get on with our work. But while we are doing that let us make sure that we are safe. We will continue to monitor the situation.”

The Miami-based National Hurricane Centre, in its latest advisory, said the centre of Tropical Storm Kirk was located near latitude 13.6 North, longitude 58.7 West.

Kirk is moving toward the west-northwest near 16 miles per hour and this general motion with a slight decrease in forward speed is expected over the next few days.  

On the forecast track, the centre of Kirk will move across the Lesser Antilles within the Tropical Storm Warning area by Thursday evening.

Maximum sustained winds are near 50 miles per hour with higher gusts. 

Gradual weakening is anticipated during the next couple of days, but Kirk is forecast to move across the Lesser Antilles and into the eastern Caribbean Sea as a tropical storm.

Tropical-storm-force winds extend outward up to 140 miles, mostly north and east of the centre.

Meanwhile, a Tropical Storm Warning is in effect for Barbados, St Lucia, Dominica, Martinique, and Guadeloupe, while a Tropical Storm Watch is in effect for St Vincent and the Grenadines.

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