A strong thunderstorm brought gusty winds that blew off the roofs, downed trees, utility poles and power lines across Southwestern Trinidad yesterday leaving residents traumatised but unhurt.
Up to late evening crews from the Disaster Preparedness Unit of the Penal/Debe Regional Corporation were doing assessments of the damage.
Speaking to Guardian Media Chairman of the Penal/Debe Regional Corporation Dr Allen Sammy said there were at least 21 reports of roof damage across the Penal/Debe Region.
Representatives from the corporation confirmed that while investigations are still ongoing, they have mainly received reports of roof damage and downed trees across the area. Clearing efforts were underway by the Corporation as a large tree rendered San Francique Main Road, in the vicinity of Light Pole #65 in Penal temporarily impassable. Another downed tree demolished a small shed on residential property, near Lalbeharry Trace, Debe.
Crews from T&TEC shut off power from parts of Picton, Penal, Debe and Barrackpore.
Six homes at Papourie Road, Extension, GP Road, Barrackpore; one house at Hassanali Trace, Lower Barrackpore and another at Bombay Avenue, Penal Quinam Road were damaged by the force of the winds.
In an interview, resident Shane Rambachan of GP Road said they were praying that there would be no more rain or winds.
“The weather is making up and some of the houses are still without roofs. Right now we have a TSTT line on fire. The current wire ground off when the winds started and the TSTT line caught fire,” he revealed.
He said the electricity lines collapsed on the road and after T&TEC cut the power, the lines were cleared.
“Right now the entire area has no current,” he said.
Another resident Wayne Ramnarine said the winds were very frightening.
“We were downstairs with the children when the winds started to blow. All I study about was to hold on to the children. My daughter was screaming,” he added.
His daughter Liseanna Ramnarine said she was cooking when the commotion started.
“My parents were just about to take a rest and then we saw the rain coming from a distance. The cushion from the couch blew off. Then we saw one galvanize blow off and then the entire roof went. We ran upstairs to salvage the laptop. It was really scary,” she added.
MP for the area Dr Roodal Moonilal visited the affected families yesterday and provided hampers and tarpaulins.
Making a call for corporate citizens to assist with building materials, Moonilal said, “These families require emergency supplies and food hampers because they have lost everything. We are trying to see what can be arranged for them for the night. I am appealing to the business community to help.”
Inclement weather also gripped other parts of the Southwestern Peninsula.
“It was a very powerful, harsh weather system for a sustained period which lead to some destruction,” said Dr Glenn Ramadharsingh, Chairman of the Siparia Regional Corporation.
Dr Ramadharsingh said, “We were in the council chamber today and we heard the harsh weather come in. We actually saw the shed, where the cars were parked, shaking. Violent weather erupted for a couple of minutes and the showers just kept coming. We were worried about flooding. We started to call residents and found out that there were roofs blown off in Fyzabad and flooding in some areas. We are still receiving reports of some areas.”
Parts of Princes Town were not spared from the gusty winds, which brought down trees in the area.