Promoters not worried about Ernesto

Although Tropical Storm Ernesto is expected to be near Jamaica by Monday, organisers of some major events that will be held over the weekend are far from worried.

The National Hurricane Centre (NHC) upgraded Ernesto from Tropical Depression #5 to Tropical Storm on Thursday. The NHC also noted that it could become a hurricane by next week. A tropical storm warning was in effect for islands like Barbados, St Vincent and the Grenadines, Dominica, St Lucia, Martinique, and Guadeloupe.

For Appleton Temptation Isle that kicked off last night with an event called 'Naked' at WavezBeach, Negril, everything is going ahead as planned. Speaking with THE STAR, Andrew Bellamy, promoter for The Official and Original Water Party, one of the events on the ATI weekend, said "(we are) watching the storm and we are mindful of it."

He continued, "All the execution is rolling out as planned. The storm is not scheduled to affect us till Monday, so the weekend is in full swing. We are slightly concerned about the Monday, but we are not concerned about the weekend." Bellamy noted that it usually rains at this time of the year in Negril, so this year would be no different.

Fabian O'Hara, one of the promoters for Rum-Bar Rum Tropical Island, a new event on the Negril weekend line-up, says he is expecting some amount of rain on Sunday as was the case in previous years. But with their water party, Marco Polo, being held on that day, he does not believe they will be affected greatly, if at all. As for the events on Monday, he said those events will go along as planned unless there is excessive rain.

Not saying much, Dream Week's Kamal Bankay says they are waiting on official information from the Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management (ODPEM) and the Ministry of Tourism that will become available today. "We are waiting on information from the ODPEM and the Ministry of Tourism on potential courses of action if the tropical storm is of any direct threat to us," he said.

THE STAR tried to get in contact with a representative from the Jamaica Cultural Development Commission (JCDC) and the Jamaica 50 Secretariat about preparations being made for the Jamaica 50-related events, but no one was available up to press time.

However, ODPEM's director general, Ronald Jackson, says a definitive decision will be made today, especially as it relates to the Jamaica 50 events such as the Grand Gala that is slated to take place at the National Stadium on Monday. "We looked at the forecast and noted that it is showing a much more favourable track, but the Prime Minister decided that we would make a definitive call tomorrow at about 10 a.m.," he said."We recognise that this is a very significant period, so we want to make sure that we make all decisions carefully." Yesterday evening, Jackson said Ernesto was tracking a little further south and travelling due west. If this continues, he said there will be "some gust, some rain, but not as detrimental as it would have been on its earlier track."

(from Jamaica Star)