PROVIDENCIALES, August 27th, 2015 – The Turks and Caicos Islands Airports Authority announced on Thursday that flight operations at Providenciales International Airport will be suspended from 6 p.m. Friday 28th August to 12 p.m. Sunday 30th August due to the passage of Tropical Storm Erika.

Winds are forecasted to be sustained at 46 knots with higher gusts. Together with torrential rain, adverse conditions will prevent safe operations into the country’s main port of entry.

In a comment on the impending suspension of flight operation, Airport Authority’s CEO John Smith said “we remain committed to serving the flying public in the safest possible manner and are taking every precaution to ensure this.”

The board and management of the Airports Authority apologize for any inconvenience that will be caused by the storm’s passage and affirm their commitment to restore flight operations when it is safe and also reduce the level of service disruption and passenger discomfort.

The Airports Authority is closely monitoring the storm’s progress and will issue updated reports if warranted.

UPDATE @ 9.30 Local (13.30 GMT), Friday 28th August, 2015

Further to the announcement of the suspension of flight operations at airports in the Turks and Caicos Islands due to Tropical Storm Erika, The Turks and Caicos Islands Airports Authority (TCIAA) has amended its suspension of operation times.

Due to the change in forecast of the storm, there will be no suspension of flight operations on Friday 28th August 2015. On Saturday 29th August 2015, flight operations will be suspended from 6.00 a.m. local (1200 GMT) and resumed later in the day depending on conditions. Based on the current storm trajectory, no suspension of operations is anticipated for Sunday 30th August 2015.

Commenting on the storm, Airport Authority’s CEO John Smith said “Erika is rather unstable and difficult to predict as it enters areas of disturbance and interact with terrain on the island of Hispaniola.”

The Airports Authority is closely monitoring the storm’s progress and will issue updated reports to ensure minimal disruption of service.

Suspension of flight operations will affect Providenciales, Grand Turk, North Caicos, South Caicos and Salt Cay airports.

Passengers are asked to contact their respective airline for flight scheduling.

If you currently live in The Turks and Caicos Islands, it is important that you start preparing for the storm. If you have time before it hits, you might want to arrange a roof inspection. You can go to this website to learn more about these sorts of inspections. You want your roof to be in top condition if it is going to stand a chance against the stormy weather. You may also want to consider boarding over any windows and stocking up on emergency supplies.