Good afternoon all:

I am joined by Kelly Burgess the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Mitigation Analyst and the Director of the Bermuda Weather Service, Dr. Mark Guishard.

Bermuda, I hope you and your families, loved ones and friends fared well during yesterday’s winter storm.

I wish to take this opportunity to extend my thanks to Dr. Guishard and his team for keeping us abreast of all the developments of the deteriorating weather conditions throughout yesterday and last night.

The critical information provided allowed us to make the right and necessary decisions to ensure that residents were kept safe. Throughout the day we have been assessing the effects of the winter storm, and here’s what I can provide as an update at this time.

There was minimal structural or foliage damage, and most of the restoration works have been completed.

BELCO continue to work on restoring power to those small pockets of residences who are without electricity.

Government Offices resumed regular operations today.

All flights are operating per normal today, and this evening we’re expecting to welcome the additional vaccines from the UK on the British Airways flight.

All schools resumed as normal today with the exception of Paget Primary, which was without electricity this morning.

Power has since been restored to the school and in class learning at Paget Primary will resume on Monday.

As a particular note, CedarBridge students and teachers conducted remote learning today as the school is being used to shelter our vulnerable persons.

Regarding the Government shelter, I can advise that 17 males and 2 females were housed during the storm.

The shelter will remain open until 9.00 am tomorrow morning, and we are encouraging any of our vulnerable persons who wish somewhere warm to stay this evening to please make their way to the shelter at CedarBridge – as the weather conditions continue to be severe.

Regarding public transportation:

Main thoroughfare commuter service resumed this morning.

There are still some road obstructions that are being cleared and the Department of Public Transportation will update accordingly on those affected routes.

The ferry service remains suspended.

The Vaccine Centers operated from 9am – 1pm, today, but will be resuming their regular schedule on Monday of 9am – 3pm.

And lastly, trash collection is per normal, and the Tyne’s Bay public drop off and the Marsh Folly Composting Facility are operating their regular hours, should residents wish to dispose of any waste or debris.

Finally, I wish to thank all of our government departments and partner agencies who ensured they were ready and prepared for any eventuality.

I also wish to commend our Disaster Risk Reduction and Mitigation Team who worked throughout yesterday to assess the progress of the storm and coordinate emergency responses.

And of course, I need to commend the people of Bermuda who exercised care, caution and common sense during the storm by staying inside and securing their homes to prevent serious injury or damage.

We’ve been advised by the BWS that the current weather conditions are expected to continue throughout the weekend and in that regard, persons should continue to use extreme caution when moving abut the island especially those on motorbikes.

Thank you.