TT, take hurricanes seriously

As a resident of the Gulf Coast in Mississippi, I experienced first hand what it’s like to be a victim of a hurricane. In my case, Katrina was a rude awakening. Being a Trinidadian new to hurricane alley, my family and I have had to leave town on more than three occasions over each of the past few years when evacuations were enforced. We drive three to four hours north of the coast to stay by family, until authorities issue the all clear. If you don’t have family close enough and need to check-in to hotels, the closer ones are booked up and you travel another two hours or more, almost to Tennessee. By this time, you’re more than six hours from home. Now, the last time I checked, there’s nowhere in Trinidad (and certainly Tobago) that you can drive for more than two hours in one direction without hitting water. My point being, you need to take more than necessary precautions in the event a hurricane hits my beautiful Trinidad and Tobago.

There’s nowhere to run from one and not much time to prepare since most of them form in the mid-Atlantic, which puts Trinidad in the firing line before anyone else.

In addition to extremely damaging wind and excessive rainfall a storm surge is also a possibility as was my experience. Imagine two miles from the beach, waist-deep water, submerged vehicles, furniture and appliances floating, you get the picture. If the water is that deep so far inland, that means closer to the beach it’s about four times that height (that’s right, four times). Houses were completely swept off their foundation, most of which have not yet been rebuilt. Even almost one year later.

Another point to consider is to ensure that all drainage and water-ways are cleared of debris to avoid unnecessary flooding which would just add to flooding woes. Please take the necessary precautions.