Fifty flooding events were reported across across the country on Tuesday during the adverse weather conditions.
That’s according to the Ministry of Rural Development and Local Government (MoRDLG), which said the bulk of the flood reports came from the Port-of-Spain City Corporation and Chaguanas Borough Corporation’s jurisdictions.
Floods were also reported in the following regional corporation’s areas of Diego Martin, San Juan/Laventille, Tunapuna/Piarco, Couva/Tabaquite/Talparo, Penal/Debe, San Fernando, and Siparia.
Traffic ground to a halt within the capital due to flash floods while motorists travelling towards south Trinidad on the highways had their commutes disrupted on the Uriah Butler Highway in the vicinity of Charlieville and on the Sir Solomon Hochoy Highway in the vicinity of Freeport.
The ministry also received reports of damage caused by gusty winds, which left fallen trees along Lady Young Road, Morvant; the northbound lane in front of Maritime Plaza, Barataria; and Saddle Road, Santa Cruz.
The MoRDLG said there were five instances of fallen trees yesterday. However, the Office of Disaster Preparedness and Management’s summary of confirmed events had the figure at 19-17 in the northwest region, one in the central region, and one in Tobago.
In all, the MoRDLG received 16 reports of damage to roofs. One of the hardest hit was Building Four of the Trou Macaque, Laventille HDC development as the heavy gusts ripped its roof completely off, affecting some 16 residents.
While the HDC development was among the worst hit in Laventille, the entire community was plunged into darkness. According to T&TEC, six large area outages were reported due to lightning strikes in South Park, Charlieville, Picton, Morvant, Laventille, and Maraval. It said work crews were dispatched to restore supply “in the shortest possible time, pending further weather challenges.”
Other affected communities included Belmont, Cascade, Barataria, and environs.
T&T is currently under a yellow-level adverse weather alert from the Met Office until noon today. It went into effect at 2 am yesterday.