Senator Jeff Baron met with a senior White House adviser in September about the island’s response to natural disasters.

According to a spokeswoman, the national security minister met with Samantha Medlock of the White House Office of Management and Building in advance of Hurricane Nicole.

Also participating in the conversation was Stephen Cosham, the ministry’s National Disaster Co-ordinator, who provided an overview of his role.

“Ms Medlock shared with the ministry some of the critical work she does on behalf of the Obama Administration, such as her role in staffing the President’s State, Local, and Tribal Leaders Task Force and launching the insurance partnership called for in the President’s Climate Action Plan to reduce economic risk and drive resilience-based codes and standards, the spokeswoman said.

Mr Baron said it was “gratifying” to share with her the island’s disaster planning efforts, adding that since her visit to the island, she had been involved in critical disaster management-related work.

“She shared with us that she was based in Florida to assess the effects of Hurricane Matthew, in particular the flooding associated with that storm in the affected East Coast states,” Mr Baron said. “She was also very supportive of Bermuda earlier this month by extending her well wishes to us as our Island dealt with Hurricane Nicole.

“She has since shared that she has been very impressed with our resilience and recovery efforts so soon after Hurricane Nicole. So, overall, the Ministry of National Security viewed this a very productive relationship-building opportunity for Bermuda, and we look forward to actively furthering key discussions with Ms Medlock and her team.”