Hurricane Tomas hits St. Lucia and RFA Wave Ruler is deployed in Disaster Relief Operations

Wave_Ruler2_A390In the last few days the Island of St  Lucia has been hit by Hurricane Tomas and at least 14 islanders have been killed, roads have been closed by mud slides, Castries, the Island’s capital has been cut off and fires have emptied the islands water mains. The Commanding Officer of  RFA Wave Ruler (Captain Shaun Jones RFA) received notification from the Task Group Commander in HMS Manchester, tasking the ship to deploy to the island to assist in Disaster Relief Operations.

In the last few days the Island of St  Lucia has been hit by Hurricane Tomas and at least 14 islanders have been killed, roads have been closed by mud slides, Castries, the Island’s capital has been cut off and fires have emptied the islands water mains. The Commanding Officer of  RFA Wave Ruler (Captain Shaun Jones RFA) received notification from the Task Group Commander in HMS Manchester, tasking the ship to deploy to the island to assist in Disaster Relief Operations.

 

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Although the St Lucian Government with the aid of contractors had begun the clean up process together with search and rescue operations the island required fresh water and water purification tablets to prevent the possibility of utilising contaminated supplies. RFA Wave Ruler with her extensive fresh water making equipment was ideally equipped to provide much needed water for distribution to schools and hospitals on the island.

 

 

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A local car falls into a sink hole in St Lucia which had been caused by Hurricane Tomas

 

Early on 4th November just off Castries RFA Wave Ruler launched her fast rescue boat and transferred 32,000 water purification tablets whilst waiting for a berth in the harbour. Later in the afternoon, Wave Ruler navigated through the narrow channel to berth at Pointe de Seraphine. Wave Ruler was able to discharge fresh water into 2 road tankers simultaneously. In total 160 tonnes of fresh water was discharged into 14 road tankers to aid St Lucia’s recovery.