News

After Tropical Storm Grace caused substantial property damage to the Queen Elizabeth II Botanic Park on Wednesday, its administrative body, the Tourism Attraction Board, is seeking assistance from the community to clean up the debris.

"We lost a lot of big trees, many of them were snapped in half. One appeared to tear down power lines as it fell, so the park also has no electricity at the moment," explained Botanic Park General Manager John Lawrus.

After a complete assessment both Mr. Lawrus and TAB Director, Patrick Thompson, indicate that without a significant amount of manpower and assistance with equipment, the cleanup could take weeks.

"While we are reaching out to our partners in the public sector, we know that there is a lot of damage island wide, so human resources within government organisations may be stretched," said Mr. Thompson.

He added that as a non-profit entity the Park is already struggling to raise funds to continue the development of the Children's Garden development.

"Unfortunately, we now have the additional burden of dealing with post storm damage. We need help in removing the downed trees and other debris, and it appears the damage to the attraction may cause thousands of dollars to address," he said.

"We need equipment like chainsaws, a dump truck, a backhoe and garbage skips. We also implore anyone who can volunteer to please reach out as soon as possible," said Mr. Lawrus.

The TAB is asking anyone who can assist with the donation of heavy equipment to reach out to John Lawrus on 916-2609 or the TAB office on 949-6999.

Anyone who can offer financial donations is also asked to contact Mr. Lawrus directly.

Pedro St James, also under the management of the TAB, suffered some downed trees and minor damage to the Great House. However, all staff have reported to work and are assisting with clean up accordingly.

All attractions managed by the TAB will remain closed until further notice.