Met Office predicts torrid Dry Season

Despite Tuesday’s persistent rains and high winds, which caused landslides in North Trinidad, the Meteorological Office yesterday forecasted that this year’s Dry Season will be drier than normal. Emmanuel Mulchan, acting Assistant Director of Meteorological Services, told Newsday although there would be showers during the Dry Season — from January to May — “we should not be too worried about them.” He said during any one month, rainfall could exceed or remain close to the average rainfall. He also described March as the driest month.

As a result of Tuesday’s heavy rains, more than 20 areas in northwest Trinidad were without electricity. In a release yesterday, the Trinidad and Tobago Electricity Commission (TTEC) stated that areas including Chaguaramas, Blue Range, Carenage, Petit Valley and various parts of Port-of-Spain were affected by the outages. TTEC said crews had been sent to the affected areas to effect the necessary repairs and power was expected to be returned by 4 pm yesterday. Meanwhile, all calls to the National Emergency Management Agency to ascertain whether there were any reports of landslides in other parts of Trinidad went unanswered, as a recording stated, “the mailbox for the National Emergency Management Agency is full.”