Consumer Affairs Urges Residents to Brace for Storms and Complete Hurricane Checklist

Yet another leading agency in the country is advising the public to pay keen attention to weather
advisories put out by the Antigua and Barbuda Meteorological Services as we get further into the 2023
Hurricane season.

The latest advice is coming from Press Information Officer within the Prices and Consumer Affairs
Division Joanne Peters who is advising the public to keep up to date to media alerts as well as the
National Office of Disaster Services for safety advice and instructions.

She also pointed residents to a consumer checklist which is featured on all its social media platforms.
“If give some key details as to what consumers should be buying and of course we are looking at items
such as can beans stuff as pasta rice (things that do not need refrigerating) first aid kits and the likes”,
Peters shared.

She also recommended having adequate water, medication for those who require it, formulas and other
essentials for babies.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration had earlier predicted a 40 percent chance of a
near normal season, a 30 percent chance of an above-normal season and a 30 percent chance of a
below normal season.

At least 3 systems have formed so far for the season which begun on June 1 st and ends on November
30 th .

The most interesting so far is tropical storm Bret which is expected to gain minimal strength over the next
few days as it approaches the Southern islands, according to the National Hurricane Center.

Weakening is predicted to start Thursday night or Friday after it passes the Lesser Antilles and the
system is likely to fall apart over the central the central Caribbean Sea by Saturday.

There is also 93-L, which may become Cindy if it strengthens into a tropical storm.

The invest in the eastern Atlantic is expected to become a tropical depression in the next day or so,
according to the National Hurricane Center.

A tropical depression has a defined circulation with sustained winds of at least 35 mph. A tropical storm
has a well-defined circulation with sustained winds of 39 to 73 mph. A system doesn’t become a hurricane
until sustained winds reach 74 mph.