DART Granada - Carriacou Deployment 2024
Hurricane Beryl the earliest category 5 Hurricane has caused immense damage to Grenada and the island of Carriacou.
Please bear with us updates may be slow
Grenada deployment report.
On the 7th July a deployment to the Caribbean Islands of Carriacou and Petit Martinique was confirmed.
The islands were directly in the path of Hurricane Beryl the earliest Cat 5 Caribbean Hurricane in history. At this point information was limited but it was understood that the hurricane had left the islands with no cellular communication, power or mains water supply.
Initial reports were saying that winds had reached 150 mph. 4000 people were thought to be in 76 emergency shelters with 11000 people in need of immediate assistance. sadly, 3 people were thought to have passed away.
Contact with NaDMA (National Disaster Management Agency) confirmed our help was needed and an official invite for DART to travel to Carriacou and Petite Martinique was received on 7th July 2024.
A safety and security assessment using government sources and previous experience in this part of the world deemed a deployment appropriate.
A team of 4 was selected. Will Clifford (team leader), Will Wood, Owen Jamieson and Craig Parker (medic).
Operations management approached Airlink and flights were confirmed for Wednesday 10th July through American Airlines.
Prior to departure DBS, medical and health forms were completed and submitted to the board of trustees.
An approach was made to Ian at Stein and yet again they were fantastic in their support to the charity, we were supplied with PPE, climbing kit, rigging kit and first aid. The charity owes a huge debt of gratitude to their support and assistance over the last 10 years.
Watch our diary video about a day on Deployment
Base camp equipment allowed the team to be entirely sufficient for all shelter, food, water purification and medical needs.
We were equipped with 3 chainsaws: a Husqvarna 572, an Echo CS621 privately donated and an echo CS261 donated by Honey Brothers Ltd. Filters and maintenance equipment for these saws were also provided.
Outbound flights included changes in Charlotte and Miami, Miami consisted of a 9-hour layover though a delayed flight ate into that by 2 hours.
At the airport we had a chance meeting with a resident of Carriacou, when he enquired about the Grenadian flag on our shirts. This led to an offer of somewhere to stay. Bob and his wife Marie are in their 80's and were residents of Grenada for 30 years. Whilst
Bob was away at the time the hurricane hit, his wife Marie was on her own when the hurricane passed overhead. Relatively speaking their property had faired the hurricane quite well, with partial loss of the roof. limited fresh water remained in the tank and hurricane water filling the septic tank being the main issues.
During the flight from Miami to Grenada, we identified other charity and aid workers and had discussions regarding conditions on the ground.
Arriving on Grenada at 2pm on 11th July, we secured accommodation for the night, This gave us a secure space to store our luggage whilst Will Clifford and Will Wood visited
NaDMA (National Disaster Management Agency)
The discussion at NaDMA covered what we wished to achieve, exchanging of contact details of relevant people in the EOC (Emergency Operating Centre) and gathering of information with regards where we can best help and methods of transport.
The morning of the 13th July, we attended the EOC
We met with Sylvan McIntyre in charge of the EOC and again covered the aims of DART during our time there. Sergent Atherley was designated our contact point and tasked us with contacting CDRU (Caricom Disaster Relief Unit) to arrange for us to work alongside and train. Whilst these arrangements were being made, we were tasked with joining the national two-day tidy up of the island.
The afternoon of the 13th July we were teamed up with Minister Andrew Williams and tasked with roadside clearance of small overhanging trees that had blown over. We emphasised our ability to deal with larger more difficult trees. After a couple of hours were taken to a large tree which was resting on powerlines under tension, The landowner had approached NaDMA and requested help, we were able to deal with the tree efficiently and safely opening up a blocked access route.
Through these first few days, we saw many people who had been issued with chainsaws, but, with no PPE and without the basic knowledge of how to operate the saws.
15th July Was our 1st day with the CDRU team consisting of 6 emergency responders from St Lucia and Dominica.
One of the team Honrae had already operated alongside DART in 2017 in Dominica after Hurricane Maria, the base background knowledge allowed us to move quickly onto more advanced techniques.
We spent the day clearing a road to multiple properties where we encountered a Manchineel tree on the roof of a local business, working alongside the CDRU helped with local tree species knowledge.
The Manchineel tree is highly toxic, a risk assessment took place and the decision was reached that we would be best placed to deal with the tree with further PPE required.
We obtained protective overalls and face masks and carried out the work to help the residents. The extra clothing proved a further challenge in the 35-degree heat. Drinking water was a significant challenge for ourselves and the residents, there were no natural springs or rivers on the island to source water from. We located a desalination plant run by Samaritans Purse and was able to access potable water from them. This didn’t reduce the availability of the local resident’s supply.
We had a good connection from a charity called All Hands and Hearts who were operating in the area, we were able to assist them in clearing some windblown trees to allow them to open access routes. This was all done in conjunction with training the CDRU.
During this period, it was identified that there was a requirement to continue with the training and clearing given the vast extent of damage to the island’s trees and buildings. In consultation with NADMA they requested we sent an additional team out to continue our work.
This will lead to a deeper and more meaningful impact on the Island of Carriacou and the Grenadines as whole.
The team returned to Heathrow on Monday 22nd of July.
The total cost of deployment was £1177
There is a huge amount of effort goes into making these deployments happen and each part is as crucial as the other. Here are some words of thanks to those that have supported us:
Honey Brothers
Honey Brothers have been great and provided us with an Echo Chainsaw.
Purple Parking
Purple Parking have provided us with free parking for our 4 volunteers saving the Charity a huge amount of money that we can put towards helping those most in need. Being able to park at the airport and have our vehicles valet to and from us makes our journey just that little bit less stressful.
Please note if you not here and feel you should be our Marketing manager is on deployment so please watch this space
Please note if you are not here and feel you should be our Marketing manager is on deployment so please watch this space
Can You Help Us?
If you would be kind enough to support our team please donate by clicking below: