Unbiased look at the Sint Maarten Elections
Huge waves, driven by Tropical Storm Erika battered the coast. Photo Today / Milton Pieters
St. Maarten – Tropic al Storm Erika did not live up to expectations and given the chaos the storm caused on other islands like Dominica, that is something to be grateful for. The island was battered by strong winds on Thursday, but the expected excessive rainfall did not materialize.
As a precautionary measure, the government ordered all businesses to remain closed yesterday. At 6 p.m., Prime Minister Gumbs announced that restaurants and casinos could reopen. The airport remained closed until this morning. Social media were buzzing with storm updates from Wednesday afternoon until yesterday afternoon. The pictures from Dominica, where four people died in the storm that caused some serious flooding, made an impression in St. Maarten, but the rain the island could use so well hardly fell.
On Wednesday, the Ministry of Education postponed a workshop about child abuse and neglect and the family of the late Frank Mingo had to postpone the funeral of the former minister of finance of the Netherlands Antilles until today.
The courthouse remained closed yesterday and the scheduled trials of the criminal court will have to be rescheduled.
Schools, businesses and government departments also remained closed yesterday. Government-owned entities like the postal services, Gebe and TelEm also kept their doors closed.
The airport announced that it would remain open on Wednesday and monitor the situation. Later the airport announced it would remain closed yesterday until this morning.
Sol postponed the reopening of its gas station in Madame Estate.
A tour of the island by our photographer Milton Pieters yesterday afternoon showed limited damages and spectacular high waves.
Schools and government departments will reopen today.
