Tobago warned about more severe weather this weekend

The Tobago branch of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) and Tobago House of Assembly (THA) officials met in emergency session yesterday afternoon following a severe weather warning from the Trinidad and Tobago Meteorological Service. The Met Service yesterday advised residents in flood prone areas and Tobagonians already affected by landslides to take precautions because severe weather was expected this weekend. Heavy rainfall last week Thursday and Friday caused landslides and deaths in north-east Tobago, as well as flooding in central and south Trinidad. In its first public advisory at noon yesterday, the Met Service said TT had been experiencing showers, which were at times heavy. The forecast was for showery activity over Trinidad and especially Tobago yesterday afternoon and possibly last night.

“These showers can exacerbate the waterlogged soil conditions in Tobago and southern Trinidad; any rainfall from the weather systems will not percolate into the ground but run off into swollen rivers and streams in these areas.” The Met Service said computer models have indicated significant increase in moisture and rainfall over TT this weekend. They showed that tonight through to tomorrow night there would be more than 50 mm of rainfall. The Met Service said this could lead to “floods and the possibility of land and mudslides depending on the areas of heaviest rainfall and other environmental conditions.” In an immediate response, THA Chief Secretary Orville London advised that persons in those parts of Tobago affected by last week Friday’s rainstorm/landslides, should vacate the area for the next 48 hours.

“We are advising people to vacate premises in precarious positions, even if at least for the next 48 hours,” he said yesterday afternoon. London, when contacted, was getting a first hand look at the progress of recovery work at Charlotteville — one of the districts on Tobago’s north east end hardest hit by last weekend’s severe weather. He explained that Colwin Perry, a firefighter of the district, had been going around to persons in the affected areas alerting them to the Met Advisory and advising that they move to less precarious areas. The same was advised for the other badly affected districts of Speyside and Delaford — where two persons perished. London said he had held preliminary discussions with NEMA Tobago Coordinator Owen Sandy around 1 pm and indicated there would have been an emergency meeting on the issue.