Trinis share their experience of bomb cyclone winter storm

SASHA HARRINANAN and CARLA BRIDGLAL

Trinis living in New York (NY) say the recent bomb cyclone winter storm was unlike anything they’ve experienced before.

Among them are Ozone Park, Queens residents Syleen Balramsingh and Janelle Chotilal.

Balramsingh told Newsday, “We haven’t gotten weather like that in almost 20 years. I was amazed by how cold it was.”

“It was freezing! At times, the wind was 24mph or higher, which made it hard to even stand outside. Even if you went outside, the snow was blowing in your face so much that it was difficult to see.”

Balramsingh was supposed to go to work last Thursday but couldn’t reach because “the trains were running with delays and signal problems and the roads weren’t ploughed. Even the water at Rockaway Beach was frozen.”

With no one working to clear the snow until after the bomb cyclone had passed, Balramsingh had no choice but to stay home.

She did have some fun before things got bad, when she took her three-year-old daughter Rianna Balramsingh outside to play on the sidewalk in front of their home.

Within a short time however, the snow had piled up so high that Balramsingh said the only way she could estimate where the sidewalk ended and the road began was by the cars parked up curbside, around which snow drifts had formed.

Over on the other side of Ozone Park, Janelle Chotilal didn’t dare venture outside during the height of the storm.

“The office were I work closed on Thursday (while) my nursing classes last Thursday and Friday were cancelled, so I didn’t have to go outside.

Thank God. It was super windy during the height of the storm – like a snow hurricane, with winds of 60-65 mph. It was pretty bad and the snow was more ice than snow really.”

Chotilal was by her mother Indra Beharry-Chotilal’s apartment on Thursday and recalled snow entering the bathroom from a hole in the frame of the bathroom window.

In related news, Caribbean Airlines Limited’s (CAL) head of communications Dionne Ligoure said flight schedules had returned to normal, with most arrivals and departures running on schedule.

“All airlines experienced delays on the weekend due to weather and other extenuating circumstances at John. F Kennedy International Airport,” Ligoure told Newsday yesterday (Monday).

Most of the flights experiencing delays are destined for NY City, one of the busiest airports and one of those hardest hit by the bomb cyclone which brought blizzards and blistering cold to much of the North Eastern United States. On Sunday, a broken water main at JFK International Airport compounded already difficult conditions.

Ligoure said CAL is working with all stakeholders to minimise further disruptions and to ensure affected customers get to their respective destinations in the shortest possible time.

She added that services to other routes had also been affected by these “acts of God” but customers do have recourse.

Those travelling to or from NY during the period January 4-8, 2018 will be able to change or cancel reservations without penalties, but the ticket must have been issued before January 4. Changes may be made for travel up to January 21, but changes to origin or destinations are not permitted. Full refunds will be allowed on tickets issued for travel (to/from NY) between January 4-8, 2018. However passengers must contact CAL’s customer service centre, since waivers will not be processed online.

JetBlue, which also has flights to/from NY and Port of Spain, has a similar waiver. The airline will waive fees and fare differences for those travelling on January 8 to/from NY and other major cities along the US Eastern Seaboard.