Several parts of Southern Trinidad were flooded on Wednesday afternoon, following heavy afternoon thunderstorms.
While the capital city of was sunny to overcast at time, southerners were hit with heavy rainfall, which began just after midday.
The downpour led to the M1 Tasker Road between Princes Town and Irie Village becoming impassable, with flooding reported across parts of Princes Town and Penal.
Flooding was also reported across parts of Williamsville, Piparo and along the Solomon Hochoy Highway near the Couva Overpass. Southbound lanes of the highway were inundated with the off-ramp temporarily impassable to smaller vehicles, while northbound lanes had little water, still causing some traffic congestion.
In north-central and northwestern Trinidad, the thunderstorms became their most intense, dumping between 25 and 75 millimetres of rainfall across the East-West Corridor, from Tunapuna to Mt. Hope.
Flooding also affected all eastbound lanes of the Churchill Roosevelt Highway between Orange Grove and Trincity, rendering the highway impassable Wednesday afternoon.
One lane of the westbound side of the highway was converted into an eastbound lane to alleviate traffic as waters slowly subsided.
Flooding also occurred in St. Augustine, Pasea, Macoya, and Tunapuna, and later in the afternoon, brief street flooding occurred in Sangre Grande and Valencia. Nearly all floodwaters subsided by 5:30 PM, but rush-hour traffic heading east and south had backed up to Port-of-Spain.
For Thursday, the TTMS is forecasting “Partly cloudy spells with showers in a few areas, with a medium (60%) chance of thunderstorms. The night will be mostly fair, with the odd shower.”
The TTMS has advised, “Gusty winds and street/flash flooding can occur in the event of heavy showers or thunderstorms.”