The Bah am as Philatelic Burea u
Gene ral Pos t Office
PO Box N -83 02
NASSt\U
BAHNvlAS
2010 PROGRAMME
Friends of the Environmen t - 3rd March, 2010
70 th Anni versa ry of the Battl e of Britain - 18th Jun e, 2010
HURRICANE AWARENESS
Please sup p ly me wi th the fo llow ing
VALUE
QUAN TITY
REQUI RED
MIt'<TO R
USED
BA
s
Hurri can e Awareness - 28 th Sept ember, 2010
COST
Chr istmas 2010 - 10th November, 2010
15c
50 c
G5c
70c
First Day Cove r
with sta m ps @ $2.75
TOTAL
Nam e
Add ress
_
_
A Standing Or der Account
To o bta in regu lar stamp issues fro m Th e BAHMlAS, it is easy to arr ang e
to h ave a Stan di ng O rde r Acco unt with Th e BAHNvlAS Phil ateli c Bu reau ,
who will be p leased to regul arl y di sp at ch yo ur requirem ents of mint sets,
CT. O.s, a nd /or First Day Covers, saving yo u th e troubl e o f h avin g to wr ite.
To o pe n a stan ding ord er acco u nt, fo rwar d US $25 .00 or eq u ivalent
curren cy by posta l mo ney or der o r bank certified chec k, stating you r
requirem ent s and includi ng your fu ll mailin g address to:
T HE BAHNvlAS PHILATELIC BUREAU
GENERAL POST OFFICE
P.O. BOX N8302
NASSAU BAHNvlAS
e-ma il BAHAMASPHl U f ELIC@b ah am as.gov.bs
T HE ISLANDS OF THE BAHAMAS
"IT JUST KEEPS GETTING BETTER"
HURRICANE
AWARENESS
HURRICANE AWARENESS
h as been to have trained people in each community who will be
ab le to resp ond to a dis aster. NEMA has also conducted training
programmes on Abaco, Eleuth era, Exuma and Long Island . The
Commu nity Emerge ncy Response Training (CERT) program m e
h as been introdu ced to th e Fam ily Islands whe re representatives
h ave been asked to pr ep are dis aster response plan s.
NEMA is a coo rdina ting agency w hich activates th e Eme rgency
Ope ratio ns Centre wh en a di saster h its.
BAHAMAS
I lu lUUCANE
AWi\llI'NL~~
NEMA's History
Th e National Emergency Management Agency (N EMA) h as
developed over m ay years, beg inning in the 1970s. The Government
also mainta ined th e Na tional Emergency Relief Account at the
Royal Bank of Canada, funds fro m which were used as earl y as
196 5 in the hurri can e Betsy relief effo rt.
In Augus t 1992 fol low ing th e passage of h urricane Andrew th e
government becam e awa re th at th e respo nse mec hanisms were
not ad eq uate so a perman en t disaster rel ief ar m of th e govern me nt
was established . The late Mrs Cathe rine Benja mi n, a sen io r pu b lic
officer, was seco nde d fro m th e minist ry of Foreign Affairs to work
in the hur ricane And rew relief effo rt.
It was no t unti l after the passage of hurrican e Floyd th at th e
Recovery Sub-Co m m ittee was forme d o n 24 th Septem ber 1999.
Th e hurri cane Floyd relief effo rt co n tin ued until the summer of
2002 .
The role of the hurricane com mi ttee was expanded to include
prep aredn ess for all forms of disaster. This was th e beginn ing of the
Disaster Mana gement Co m mittee (DMC) in its current form . Th e
DMC meets on th e last Friday of each month and more frequ entl y
if necess ary. Co mmittee members are draw from government
mi nistri es and agencies.
The Recovery Sub-Co m m ittee was renamed Disast er Man agem ent
Unit (DMU) . The focus of the Disaster Man agem ent uni t was
expande d to in clud e the concept of comprehensive dis aster
man agem ent. To reflect this the na me was changed to Natio nal
Eme rgency Management Agency (NEMA).
NEMA h as conducted many train ing program m es to w hich
pa rticipa nts from the Fami ly Islan ds have been in vited . Th e ai m
NEMA is now a recog nized acron ym in Th e Bah amas . It is h oped
th at th e effo rts and th e Agency will enco urage the citizens an d
resident s of th e co unt ry to be prepa red fo r d isasters.
Rain fall
The wo rd h urr ica ne evokes vio lent wind, yet some of the wo rst
trop ical cyclo ne catas trophes are caused by torrenti al rain. Tropical
Sto rm Noel over Exuma in 200 7 ca used heavy rain fall reach ing
a reco rd level of 15 inches (3 80mm) Fou r factors determ ine
how mu ch rain wil l fall; th e amo unt of wa ter vapo ur in th e
air, to pography, th e vertical exten t and d urati on of th e updraft.
Hurri can e Noel in 2007 and h urrican e Wilm a in 2005 caused
heavy flood ing wh ich lead to casual ties in Exuma and Freeport
respectively. Rain may exten d o utwa rd for hundreds of mil es from
th e centre of the h urr ican e and may last for several d ays after
th e hurri can e h as passed. An average of 10 to 15 inches of rain
falls ove r coa stal area s during th e passage of a well-developed
h urricane, but over 20 inches have been recorded and rain ma y
fall at th e rate of one inch an hour.
Storm or Tidal Surge
Vio len t hurrican e winds may pro duce storm surges of up to 45 feet
high at sea, an d stor m surg es of over twenty feet may crash against
shores at spee ds of up to 40 mp h . Long swells ma y move o utwards
from th e eye o f a hurrican e fo r mo re th at 1,000 mi les. These lo ng
swells are often th e first visib le signs of an approach ing hur ricane
and are kn own as th e Storm Surge. A storm surge, also calle d a
hWTiclllle surge, is the abnor mal rise in sea level cause d by wind
and pressur e fo rces of a hurrican e. Jt can be extrem ely devasta tin g,
and is a major cause of dam age and greatest danger to life duri ng
the passage of a hurricane. It is estim ated th at 75% of all hu rricane
related dea ths a nd in juri es are caused by th e sto rm surge.
The storm surge, a m ovin g wall a water weig hi ng m illio ns o f ton s,
acts like a gigan tic bulldo zer des troying anyt hing in its path. If it
arrives at the sa me tim e as a high tid e, th e wa ter h eight wi ll be
even grea ter. The shape of th e sho reline an d th e ocean floor has a
grea t deal to d o with a sto rm surge's mag nitud e. The mor e grad ua l
the floo r slop es the less volume of sea th ere is in whic h th e surge
can dissipate and the further in lan d the water is d isplaced. This
d om e of water can be up to 40 to 60 mi les lo ng as it mo ves onto
th e shoreli ne.
Wind s
Of all th e tro pical cyclo ne damaging agents, stro ng winds are
perh aps the best understood. Damaging winds will acco mp any any
h urricane, no ma tte r what category it is. The stronger th e hurri cane
th e mor e po tent ial there is for wind damage to occu r. Th e fierce
winds may reac h 200 mph. The strongest winds repo rted in th e
Bah am as were Hurricane Andre w in 1992 (150mph), the Great
Bah am as Hurrican e of 1926 (150mph ), an d the Great Bahamas
Hurrican e of 1929 ( 140mph) . Wind spee ds are greatest near the
surface arou nd th e central calm or eye.
The for ce of the win d can qui ckly decim ate th e tree population,
bring down p ower lin es an d utility poles, knock over signs, and
m ay be stro ng eno ugh to destro y so me build ings. Flying debri s
can also cause d am age, injuri es and death .
Reconnaiss ance Aircraft
Reconnaissan ce Aircraft o r Hurricane Hunters are ma nned
ai rcraft tha t fly directly in to the hurrican e to m easu re in formati on
abo ut the sto rm . Satellite data has revo lutionized weather
fo recasters' ability to detect ea rly signs of tropi cal cyclo nes, but
sa tellites can no t determ ine th e in terio r barom etr ic pressur e of
a hurrican e, nor pro vid e accurate wind spee d infor m at ion . This
ca n o n ly be done by flying a reco nnaissa nce ai rcraft into th e
h urricane.
The 53 rd Wea ther Recon naissance Sq ua dron, be tter known
as "Air Force H urr ican e Hunters", is a Un ited States Air For ce
Sq ua d ron based in Biloxi, Mississipp i, that flies mi ssio ns int o
hurrican es and weath er systems for research purposes and
o bserva tio n .
Hurricane conditions in the Bahamas
Hurrican es are products of a tropi cal ocean and atmosphere.
Powered by heat from the sea, th ey are steered by the easterly
trad e winds and the temperate westerlies as well as by their
own ferocio us energy. Aro un d their core, winds grow with great
veloc ity, gene rating vio lent seas. Moving ashore, they sweep
th e oce an in ward while spawn ing tornadoes and producing
torrent ial rain and flood s. Each year, on average 10 tropical
sto rms , of which six becom e h urricanes and two major (cate gory
3 or higher on th e Saffir-Simpso n Hur ricane Scale) , develop
over th e Atlantic Ocea n, Caribbea n Sea or Gu lf of Mexico from
Jun e 1 to November 30. For th e Bahamas, peak hurrican e threat
exists from mid -August to late Octo ber
The Bah am as have been bru sh ed or hit by tropical sto rm or
hurrican e 5 7 times since 1871, an d average of onc e every 2.4
years.
TECHNICAl. DETAItS
Design
. : Derek Miller
Printer . . ..
.
Process
.
Stamp Size
Pan e
.
.
. : The Lowe-Martin Gro up
: Litho grap hy
: 32 .00mm x 32.00mm
: 50 (2 x 25 )
Perfor ation
: 13 per 2 cm
Paper . . . . . . . . . .
: CASCO Crown wate rm arked paper
Values . . . . . . . .
. 15c, SOc, 65c, 70c
Release Date. . . . . . . . : 28 September 2010
Th e H urricane in formation was provided by Mr. Wayne Neely.