Sascha Wil­son

Heavy winds in south Trinidad yes­ter­day ripped off sev­er­al roofs, dam­ag­ing build­ings, up­root­ing trees and knock­ing out the elec­tric­i­ty sup­ply in sev­er­al ar­eas. There were no re­ports of in­juries, but res­i­dents in sev­er­al ar­eas, in­clud­ing Williamsville, Gas­par­il­lo, Rio Claro, Ste Madeleine, Princes Town, Bar­rack­pore, San Fer­nan­do, La Ro­maine, Vista­bel­la, Mara­bel­la and Siparia were left trau­ma­tised by the se­vere weath­er.

Short­ly af­ter mid­day yes­ter­day, heavy rains and winds be­gan bat­ter­ing sev­er­al parts of south Trinidad. At Caratal Road, Gas­par­il­lo, res­i­dents de­scribed see­ing a mi­ni tor­na­do which ripped off six roofs and did ma­jor dam­age to a house in the dis­trict. Del­lana Hick­son, 17, said she was alone at home when she no­ticed a chen­nette tree in the yard lean­ing to­wards the house. At Ben Lomond Vil­lage a preg­nant woman grabbed her two young daugh­ters and ran for their life when the roof over their heads was ripped away. Head of the house­hold, Dave Rooplal, said he was thank­ful his fam­i­ly was not hurt.

Az­iz Mo­hammed was at the San Fer­nan­do Gen­er­al Hos­pi­tal wait­ing to be treat­ed when he heard the roof of his house at Ec­celsville, Williamsville, had blown off. "I just leave and come home. The gal­vanise on one of the bed­rooms blew off. My lap­top, clothes, mat­tress every­thing wet up," he said. Ma­yaro Rio Claro Re­gion­al Cor­po­ra­tion Chair­man Haz­arie Ramdeen, who vis­it­ed af­fect­ed ar­eas, said the roofs of two homes at Dates Road were blown off. At Lazari Road, he said, a tree fell and pulled down sev­er­al elec­tric­i­ty poles. Gal­vanise sheets on the roof of Ar­mour Fu­ner­al Home in Princes Town blew off and crashed in­to an awning at a near­by shop, tear­ing down elec­tri­cal lines and caus­ing an out­age in the area.