Baby girl saved from drowning in flood

AN 18-month-old baby girl was rescued from drowning in the nick of time by her mother in San Fernando yesterday, when heavy rains flooded their home. The baby, Jade Jermott, was discovered by her mother Kimberly, floating on a mattress in an apartment on Freeling Street, San Fernando. Firemen had to rescue the family of four whose apartment was covered in three feet of water. Yesterday, the country experienced what the Meteorological Office described as a tropical wave which passed across north/central and south Trinidad, accompanied by thundershowers around midday. Tobago also experienced a prolonged period of showers and thundershowers.

Several streets in San Fernando became flooded, causing shoppers to scamper for safety admist loud cracking of thunder and lightning in heavily overcast skies. There were also reports of flooding in the Port-of-Spain area. By 1 pm, the downstairs apartment of Roger and Kimberly Jermott was flooded during the heavy downpour. Kimberly said she and her daughter, Josanne, 13, were looking at television while her baby daughter Jade, was asleep in the bedroom. Water gushed through the front door, Kimberly told Sunday Newsday, “and in seconds, things started floating.” Kimberly, whose husband was not at home at the time, said she panicked and frantically began lifting furniture and electronic items from the water. “Then, I ran back in the bedroom and saw the mattress floating and she (Jade) on it,” Kimberly said. When the mother picked up Jade, the child was soaked. Neighbours went to the family’s assistance and telephoned the fire department.

Firemen from Mon Repos Fire Headquarters had to burst a hole in the concrete wall of the apartment for the water to exit. The family lost a litter of kittens which drowned. Meteorologist Brian Thomas, told Sunday Newsday that the tropical wave, predicted on Thursday at the Met Office in Piarco, brought storm-like weather conditions of heavy showers, lightning and thunder. It was not associated with the hurricane season, Thomas added. The weather conditions of thunder showers and slight gusty winds, he said, was not likely to continue into last night. The Met Office received telephone calls from over 17 districts in south and central Trinidad which experience flooding. Reports from the Fire Service revealed fallen trees across roadways in areas such as Belmont, St Ann’s and in Wallerfield.