When asked whether he remembered the day Hurricane Emily whipped the Island almost 16 years ago, former director of Government Information Services (now Department of Communication and Information) Bryan Darby responded: "Quite vividly."

For Mr. Darby, the shock of Hurricane Emily hit hours before the Island' s residents had any idea that it was on the way.

"At five o'clock that morning my phone rang at home and a Police officer asked me whether I was the director of GIS," Mr. Darby said. "He said we had an emergency situation. A hurricane was due to hit the Island and it was my job to alert the nation. The call was definitely a tremendous shock."

Mr. Darby, now the chief correspondent for VSB News, said he knew the task was not going to be an easy one, as all of the local radio stations were on satellite feed at playing overseas programmes at that hour of the morning.

"There was nobody for me to talk to. It was the worst hour of my life," he said.

Mr. Darby said he eventually he contacted the stations' owners and roused them out of bed, but it was not an easy task.

"You couldn't believe how complacent the people were back then," he said.

After arriving at Police Headquarters at 7 a.m. Mr. DArby said he was nervous about the thought of Islanders travelling to work, oblivious of the imminent danger. And when his department was finally able to get the hurricane warnings on the airwaves, Mr. Darby said he still had to call them every hour to stress the importance of the issue.

"The stations were concerned about making sure they played the commercials their sponsors had paid for.

"No one was taking it (Emily) seriously. It was almost like a dream," he said.