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The Blackman Gollop Primary School, under construction at Staple Grove, Christ Church. (FP)

A new government primary school, set to open in September, is among the over 120 emergency shelters at the disposal of Barbadians this hurricane season.

Executive Officer with the Ministry of Education and Human Resource Development, Noel Campbell, revealed this today while acknowledging that the list of shelters should soon be made public.

The new school is the Blackman Gollop Primary School that will open in the upcoming school year, at Staple Grove, St. George. An amalgamation of the St. David’s and South District Primary schools, it has been added to the list of Category I emergency shelters and is rated as one of the most modern of hurricane shelters on the island.

"It is one of the best we have at present to withstand winds of up to 110 miles per hour," said Mr. Campbell said, adding that there are 59 Category I public shelters (schools, ‘, ‘, ‘, ‘, ‘, ‘, ‘, ‘, ‘, ‘, ‘, ‘, ‘, ‘, ‘, ‘, ‘, ‘, ‘, ‘, ‘, ‘, NULL, NULL, 0); 20 Category I privately-owned shelters (churches, ‘, ‘, ‘, ‘, ‘, ‘, ‘, ‘, ‘, ‘, ‘, ‘, ‘, ‘, ‘, ‘, ‘, ‘, ‘, ‘, ‘, ‘, NULL, NULL, 0); 30 Category II public shelters (schools) and 19 Category II privately-owned shelters (churches).

This year has also seen the removal of a few Category I shelters from the list. They are The Lodge School in St. John and the St. John the Baptist Church in St. James, both of which are currently under repairs. Additionally, the St. Elizabeth Resource Centre in St. Joseph is off the list.?? It will continue to be a feeding centre for the Welfare Department.

Back on the list of Category I shelters is the Clifton Hill Moravian Church in St. Thomas which was delisted for the past two years.??

Shelters described as Category I are those which are expected to be used by the public during a hurricane or?? any other hazardous event, while Category II would be used after the all-clear is given.

The official hurricane season runs from tomorrow, June 1, to November 30.

It is expected to be a ???busy’ one with some 16 named hurricanes, nine of which should develop into hurricanes, and five into major hurricanes of Category III, IV and V strengths.

jgill@barbados.gov.bb

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