Bill in billions

Article by ALEX DOWNES

The costs associated with Hurricane Maria could reach historic levels for Dominica.

While still early, executive director of Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA), Ronald Jackson, estimated the Category 5 hurricane could cost the eastern Caribbean country way above the US$500 million of Tropical Storm Erika in 2015.

“I can tell you this. If Erika was in the region of a half-a-billion dollars, this is going to be multiples times that,” Jackson said during a media conference at CDEMA’s Lower Estate, St Michael headquarters yesterday evening.

“The entire agricultural sector is down. The tourism sector there took a significant impact. Those are two primary areas of the economy of Dominica,” he added. (AD)

Please read the full story in today’s Daily Nation, or in the eNATION edition.