Above: Antigua PM Dr Baldwin Spencer

By the Caribbean Journal staff

Antigua Prime Minister Dr Baldwin Spencer visited flood-impacted areas in St Vincent over the weekend.

The floods, which led to the deaths of eight people and another five reports of missing persons, caused millions of dollars in damage.

Several areas of the island have been declared disaster areas.

Spencer said the damage surpassed what he had first thought after reading news reports.

“Now that I have come and seen the situation first hand, I recognize that it’s been devastating,” Spencer said. “I am here, as I said, to show solidarity with the people of St. Vincent and more particularly, Prime Minister Dr. Ralph Gonsalves. He and I have developed a close friendship and also as the current chair of the OECS Heads, recognizing that three of the member states have recently suffered as a result of the weather patterns.”

On Sunday, Spencer visited St Lucia, another affected country.

He estimated that the damage totaled in the hundreds of millions of dollars.

“My heart goes out to our Caribbean brothers and sisters in St. Vincent and St. Lucia that died, were injured and were displaced by the recent storms,” he said.