And while Mayor Zenaida Moya has tens of thousands of city residents to worry about, not so for Brian Yearwood – the Chairman of the Placencia Village Council. His village has an estimated 1,200 people. Add a few tourists and his headaches are far fewer than Mayor Moya. Except that his slender community was very near to the landfall point that the forecasting models were predicting this morning. But when we found Yearwood in Placencia this afternoon, he was as his village was: cool, calm and collected.
Brian Yearwood, Chairman – Placencia
“I gave the evacuation order around 8:15 this morning, basically telling people get to the banks and evacuate. I prefer not to take the chances on this peninsula. I would say maybe 60% of people have already left and the remainder by this evening. So I think for Tuesday evening, Wednesday morning we will be alright.”
Jules Vasquez,
You all are storm seasoned and storm battered as well. What is the feeling like out here?
Brian Yearwood,
“I think in general, from our Iris experience, I think most people have already prepared for this coming storm. Half of them have already left. I think previously we learnt from the experience of Iris not to hang around.”
Jules Vasquez,
What about those who will be staying here?
Brian Yearwood,
“Well like myself. Well we will just batter it down. We’ll just lock up, we’ll board up. We’ll move to higher ground and basically I’ll be working with police. Mainly security is the main issue right before and after the storm. We’ll just do the best we can and be around and be available to help whoever needs some help.”
The village’s only shelter which is the primary school opened this evening at 5:00.
