THUNDERSHOWERS, FLOOD, ROOFS BLOWN OFF

The Met Office yesterday warned of continuing heavy showers with the potential for more flooding over the weekend.

Flash flooding was reported at Williams Street in Enterprise, Chaguanas; Montrose Street, Chaguanas near Sissons Paint; the Macaulay Road in Claxton Bay; Mahogany Street in Gasparillo; Boodhoo ‘highway’ in Sangre Chiquito and in several areas of Maloney.

Lightning resulted in a temporary loss of electrical power at Irvin Street in Petit Bourg.

According to a public advisory issued by the Office of Disaster Preparedness and Management (ODPM), the Meteorological Service issued a Severe Weather Bulletin at 10 am yesterday, advising the public of an active tropical wave affecting TT. Waves were in excess of three metres in open waters with the sea being rough to choppy.

According to the Met Office, the country will continue to experience showers and thundershowers accompanied by gusty winds in excess of 50 km/hr over the weekend.

Tobago also got its fair share of bad weather yesterday with the roof of several houses being blown off, while two trees were uprooted.

The Tobago Emergency Management Agency (TEMA) said they received seven reports of damage to houses up to mid-afternoon, according to TEMA Information Officer Alex Browne. Of these, he said, two reports involved fallen trees in east Tobago which caused no damage to property or injuries to anyone; while, there were four reports of roof damage.

In one instance, according to Browne, an entire roof was blown off a house at Mary’s Hill on the northwestern outskirts of Scarborough, while at Argyle, near Roxborough, in east Tobago, almost half of a roof was torn away from a house.

At the Argyle home of Claudette Daly and her family, members of the TT Defence Force were busy covering the exposed part of the roof with tarpaulin and were assisting the family with relocating their belongings.

Daly’s shaken daughter who asked not to be identified, said the family of four was asleep when a strong gust of wind ripped off part of the roof at about 5.30 am. As the rain poured through the hole left by the sheets of galvanise being ripped off, the family scrambled to relocate items to other parts of the house before they got damaged by the water.

Browne said TEMA had activated its Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) Units in several areas and together with Fire Services personnel had engaged in clearing fallen trees, as well as providing assistance, including tarpaulin covering where necessary, to those persons affected by roof damage. While the severe weather warning was still in effect late yesterday, the intermittent showers and gusty winds had effectively subsided by early afternoon, shortly after midday.

The roof of a family of five was reported to have been blown off by strong winds at La Solita Street, Kelly Village in Caroni. The roofs of houses in Picton Road Extension, Sangre Grande and Talparo were also blown off.

Disaster Coordinator of the Tunapuna /Piarco Regional Corporation, ODPM official, Keston Empitage identified another roof being blown off at St Helena No 20 and La Fillette Road in Blanchisseuse.

Corporate communications manager of TTEC, Stephen Martel, said east Trinidad was the most affected area with loss of electricity extending from San Juan to Cumana. “Up to this time, some areas in the east are still without electricity,” Martel said. TTEC crews were working to restore supply up to late yesterday. Three areas in south Trinidad were also without electricity for short periods while there were several power outages in north Trinidad.

Councillor Carol Charles for the Santa Rosa/Blanchisseuse district said workmen from the Ministry of Works and Transport and Tunapuna /Piarco Regional Corporation spent close to an hour clearing the Blanchisseuse road after a tree fell across it.

Henry Nicholas, councillor for Santa Cruz/ Maracas/La Fillette said he did not receive any report of flash flooding along the North Coast Road but will be visiting several areas this morning to see if any damage was done. Empitage assured that the ODPM contacted the Ministry of Social Services to arrange hampers for affected families over the weekend.