Schools in Trinidad and Tobago closed on Friday because of bad weather

ALL schools in Trinidad will be shut on Friday owing to the threat of bad weather, said the Ministry of Education in a statement at about 7.55 pm on Thursday night.

Tobago's Division of Education, Research and Technology issued a similar statement later on Thursday night, saying it had consulted the Tobago Emergency Management Agency and decided to close schools on the island

This came as the country was placed under an orange adverse-weather alert amid news that a tropical wave was expected to arrive on Friday, and after bouts of heavy rain on Thursday.

The Met Office website said an orange alert was the third level in a four-tier scale and referred to a "high risk to public safety, livelihoods and property."

Earlier, at about 6.20 pm the ministry said in a statement on its Facebook page that it would issue a further advisory on school operations by 8 pm.

Both statements said that at 4.08 pm the Met Office had updated its adverse-weather alert to orange (from yellow) because an inter tropical convergence zone (ITCZ) was continuing to affect TT.

The ministry, in both statements, said it continued to monitor updates from the Met Office and the Ministry of Rural Development on riverine levels and flooding in areas prone to this.

In its later statement, the ministry made its decision.

"As a safety precaution, based on the weather conditions which have persisted over the past few hours, the projected overnight rainfall, and the present levels of major rivers, all schools in Trinidad will remain closed on Friday October 28.

"Unless a further advisory from the Ministry of Education is issued, schools will reopen (on) Monday October 31, except where clean-up operations in schools may be necessary.

"In such cases, parents will be advised directly through the school's principal."

The ministry said it would continue to monitor Met Office updates.