Met Office: Weekend rain above normal

The rainfall which TT has been experiencing over the weekend has been described as “above normal,” and persistent showers which started around midmorning caused some street flooding in south-east Port-of-Spain. Since Friday, the Meteorological Service has been issuing rough seas bulletins warning sea bathers and small craft operators along the coasts. Meteorologist David Gajadhar yesterday told Newsday that low level convergence of wind and moisture over TT and the windwards (up to Barbados) with a “bit of upper level support” (winds) was the cause of the 25 mm which fell over the previous 24 hours. The rainfall was measured at Piarco and Crown Point met offices. The system was also causing showers in the southern windward islands. Seas were three metres in open waters and one metre in sheltered areas.

“The system should gradually weaken over the next two days.” Today is expected to be breezy with early morning and afternoon showers mainly in Trinidad. Improvement is expected “Wednesday into Thursday,” said Gajadhar. While the Met office had anticipated the start of the Dry Season, TT is now in a “transition period” with occasional showers. Tropical storm Zeta, the 27th of the 2005 Hurricane Season is located 2,360km north-east of the northern Leeward Islands. It is the third tropical or sub-tropical cyclone occurring in January. This system is not expected to affect the eastern Caribbean. Gajadhar said the Hurricane Centre in Miami anticipated that the system would weaken rapidly over the next day or two. Despite the rough seas, Augustus Sylvester, chairman of the Lifeguard Section, said there was a good crowd at Maracas yesterday. There was no need to rescue anyone from the sea.

However, he said one problem which lifeguards experienced over the holiday period from Christmas Eve to Wednesday December 28 was a lack of proper supervision of children by their parents. Adults also kept the lifeguards busy. Sylvester said for the five-day period, 14 people (the majority of them adults) had to be rescued. Due to the rough seas, bathers were being dragged into danger zones. “Many people are not safety conscious. They do not know the significance of the flags. We would move people from the danger area and within a few minutes they are back there. Then people on the shore who go into the water go to the said area of the beach.”