The St Ann Municipal Corporation is confident that it has measures in place to prepare for what is expected to be an active hurricane season this year.

Head of the corporation, Mayor of St Ann’s Bay Michael Belnavis, says councillors in the parish have been allocated more than $1 million each to clean and repair drains in their divisions.

Belnavis was speaking at a media briefing at the corporation’s chamber on Thursday afternoon following its monthly meeting.

“This hurricane season is being anticipated to be very active, with 17 to 25 named storms, eight to 13 hurricanes and four to seven major hurricanes of category three or higher.

“We are expecting more than normal hurricanes coming through. So we are taking all precautions to ensure that the people of St Ann are cared for and safe,” said Belnavis.

He was joined by minority leader in the corporation Ian Bell (People’s National Party, Beecher Town Division) and the St Ann Disaster Coordinator Alvin Clarke.

According to Belnavis, the municipal corporation has been given well in excess of $20 million for drain cleaning in the last two months and all 16 councillors have started work to ensure that drains are well maintained.

He said he is expecting additional funds from the Ministry of Local Government and Community Development for further allocations to be made to facilitate another phase of drain cleaning, especially in the areas that are referred to as the parish’s flooding hot spots — Cave Valley, Moneague, Pedro River, Douglas Castle, and Middlesex.

Belnavis said councillors whose divisions cover these flooding hot spots are entitled to more funds than others giving the nature of the areas.

“We did some remedial work in Douglas Castle and there is minimal flooding in that area. Cave Valley is like a pond, but we are doing all we can to ensure that we don’t have any major recurrence,” said Belnavis

“Councillors for the most part have started their work and we anticipate that by the end of this month we would have completed one segment of our drain cleaning,” added Belnavis.

The mayor added that there has also been a series of tree-cutting operations in the parish as part of the disaster preparedness plan.

“We have also gotten into a tree-cutting programme to ensure that we have less trees to create damage in the case of a natural disaster. Trees often fall on people, houses, on the roads, etc, so we want to prevent that,” said Belnavis.

In the meantime Bell told the media briefing that he appreciates the money he has received so far as his division has several drains that are in need of maintenance.

“We give God thanks for what has been provided and we will try to make the best use of it,” said Bell as he asked that special attention be given to the Fern Gully area in his division.

“Fern Gully has a lot of [land] slippage when we have any natural disasters and [is often] blocked. So one of my major concerns is to know what will be done in terms of Fern Gully ahead of any disaster,” added Bell.

For his part, the parish Disaster Coordinator Clarke declared that the 84 emergency centres in the parish are ready and a team is actively working to ensure the safety of residents during the period.

“We have ensured that our emergency centres are up to par because a hurricane could come anytime. We have all the supplies necessary, including mattresses, etc,” said Clarke