ROSEAU, Dominica (CMC) — Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit has urged Dominicans to take precautionary measures even though Tropical Storm Grace was expected to weaken yesterday as it moves closer towards the Lesser Antilles.

The Miami-based National Hurricane Centre (NHC) said that the storm was expected to become a tropical depression with winds of 40 miles per hour. It was yesterday morning located 1,360 miles east of the Lesser Antilles.

Skerrit’s plea comes as the island continues to recover from the battering it received from Tropical Storm Erika that has been blamed for more than 30 deaths and a number of people reported missing and now presumed dead.

The country has also estimated damage to its infrastructure in excess of US$600 million, and is appealing to the international community to help in the rebuilding.

Prime Minister Skerrit, in his address to the nation on Monday night, said “regardless of this weakening, and this is what I want you to listen to very carefully, my dear people, the current projection is for an increase in shower and thunderstorm activity, which could be heavy at times across Dominica on Friday, with the possibility of flash flooding”.