THERE will be a national shutdown of the country at 11:30 a.m. today as Barbadians will begin to feel the effects of Hurricane Emily by as early as 2 p.m.

This announcement was made by Acting Prime Minister Mia Mottley last night at Arch Hall Fire Station, the new Central Emergency Relief Organisation base as she announced that Barbados was under a hurricane warning. It followed meetings with top Government officials, officials of the Meteorological Office, the Barbados Defence Force, police and the Barbados Tourism Authority.

Mottley told members of the media that employees of the public sector would be sent home at 10 a.m., while Transport Board buses would operate until 12:30 p.m. Permanent secretaries and other senior Government officials will remain on duty until the national shutdown at 11:30 a.m.

A separate time closure will be announced for employees at the airport.

All shelters will be opened from 10 a.m. today and a nurse as well as security personnel will be stationed at all of them.

Mottley urged Barbadians to heed the advisories and to comply.

She also said she had been assured by officials of the Barbados Hotel and Tourism Association that shelter plans had been put in place for the 6 000 visitors on the island who are staying in hotels.

In relation to the over 900 inmates being housed at the temporary prison site in St Lucy, she reiterated that the buildings and roofs were made of concrete and that additional security would be posted there.

The Attorney-General admitted that they were originally informed that Emily, the fifth tropical system for this year's hurricane season, would have affected Barbados at 8 o'clock tonight but said this time was later revised based on the speed of the system.

Up to press time last night, Emily was located at 11 degrees North and 53.7 degrees West, or about 420 miles east south east of Barbados. It was travelling near 20 miles per hour to the West with maximum sustained winds of 50 miles per hour. Tropical storm winds extended outward to 50 miles from the centre.

Director of Meterological Services, Chester Layne, said the centre of the storm was expected to pass within 40 to 50 miles south of Barbados in the afternoon, but even before that Barbadians would begin to feel the effects of adverse weather.

"Emily is predicted to be a minimal hurricane by the time it passes Barbados. This suggests that Barbados will experience anything from strong tropical storm force winds to minimum hurricane force winds. In terms of the range this will mean anything anwhere in excess of 35 miles per hour and as high as 75 to 80 miles per hour," he said.