FREAK STORM HITS SOUTH

WITHIN the space of two hours yesterday, a freak storm which packed winds in excess of 55 kilometres per hour, tore off the roofs of two homes and uprooted fully grown trees in the southland, leaving in its wake four persons homeless and over $100,000 in damages. And although the Meteorological Office at Piarco issued a bulletin at 4 pm yesterday, indicating that the weather pattern, which was caused by a Tropical Wave, was dissipating and normalcy was expected by last night, for the homeless persons, the storm could not come at a worst time, with the advent of the rainy season.     
                                                              
The most hard hit areas were Debe and Palmyra Village where gusty winds and heavy rains knocked out the electricity supply to the community as well as surrounding areas. Shortly after 1 pm, a Severe Weather Bulletin was issued by the Met Office warning that the country would experience heavy thunder showers due to a combination of a fast moving Tropical Wave and favourable upper level winds. At the same time the Bulletin was being issued, Denise Seepaul, 32, was rushing out of her house at Ragoo Village, Debe after the roof was ripped off the building by the strong winds. At the time, Seepaul was watching television in company with her husband Suresh, 34 and children Alicia, 12, and Ayanna, ten. When Newsday visited the Seepaul residence, Denise and her children had gone to their relative’s home to seek shelter for the night.

Errol Rampersad, a next-door neighbour, who witnessed the incident, said the strong wind was pushing hard against him while he was trying to walk towards his home. “I was trying to grab hold of the neighbours gate for support because I see the breeze blowing the boxes and everything into the air. The trees were swaying from side to side,” he recalled. Rampersad said on reaching in front of Seepaul’s home, he saw the entire roof being ripped off from the house and crash at the side of the building. Rampersad explained that while he was calling for help, Denise came running out of the house. Up to late yesterday, her husband Sureash had no idea where he was going to get the money to fix his home. He said he was concerned about having repairs done quickly since with the rainy season, more freak storms could be expected. Looking in disbelief at the roofless house, he said most of the furniture were saved since they were able to move it out before the rains came. However, during the freak storm, the walls of his house cracked and the flooring of the house was destroyed.   
                                                                                                                                                       
Sureash said officials from the Penal/Debe Regional Corporation visited him shortly after the incident and promised to assist him, but they had not returned up to late yesterday. He could not estimate his losses but believed that it could run well over $60,000. Thirty minutes later, Reno Mohammed of Palmyra Village, was standing by a parlour when he was told by a neighbour that the roof of his house, as well as the back portion of his wooden home were blown off. Fortunately, Mohammed who lived with his brother Carl Baptiste, 43, and his three nephews and a niece, has a place to shelter, since he recently built a concrete apartment adjacent to the affected house. Mohammed’s nephew Marlon Guerra, 21, who was in the apartment when the storm started told Newsday the wind was blowing very strong and he heard a loud noise. “When I peep through the window, I see the roof on the ground and the transformer sparking...then the electricity went,”. Mohammed, who said he receives public assistance, estimated his losses at over $55,000. Checks with the Met Office yesterday at 5.30 pm, revealed that the weather pattern which caused the freak storm had dissipated after the Tropical Wave started moving west off Trinidad and Tobago. A Met Office source said the occasional shower and isolated thunder shower was expected last night. These showers, the source said, are expected to be accompanied by wind gusts in excess of 50 kilometres per hour. The storm has come in what weather experts predict will be a bad hurricane season.