Rivers burst at Caroni, North and South Oropouche

STEADY rains overnight Thursday led to several rivers bursting their banks by Friday morning, with some resultant damage, especially the Caroni River at El Carmen and the Oropouche River in the area of Sangre Grande, according to reports from several state agencies.

Although Trinidad and Tobago was not hit by any storm (which no one had forecast) and even as a tropical wave predicted to reach TT had somewhat weakened by Friday, some areas of Trinidad got enough rain to fill and even overspill their rivers.

Further, Met Office forecasts at lunchtime were for a damp weekend, even as it downgraded its adverse weather report from orange ("secure yourself/property") to yellow ("monitor conditions") but kept its riverine alert at orange. Thursday presented a mixed picture.

Meteorologist Gary Benjamin told Newsday  while many people on social media had sharply remarked that the weather they saw on Friday was not as bad as Thursday's predictions/warnings by state agencies, people in some areas had faced bad weather overnight and on Friday were badly affected by flooding. He said the Met Office had never predicted any storm.

Benjamin justified the Met Office retaining its riverine alert. Talking to Newsday at 3 pm – between the time forecast for low tide at 11.30 am and high tide at 5.42 pm – he said the tide was rising, a fact likely to somewhat impede the outflow of rivers and consequently the run-off of water from flooded lands.

He also warned, "Even if the rain has stopped, water is still percolating into the system, plus there is a high tide pending."

Benjamin said TT faced a weakened tropical wave, an area of low pressure associated with thunderstorms and cloudiness.

"The tropical wave has slowed in its movement a bit and has lost some of its sharp signature." .

However he said TT was still experiencing convergence, whereby winds come together in a restricted space, thereby causing moisture to rise and form clouds.

"We expect the next few days to be cloudy conditions, some rainfall, and thunderstorms. We are expecting a moist weekend and a couple of days next weekend."

Benjamin wanted it known that the Met Office operates using science and ideas of probability. "We do predictions, not prophesy."

At 11 am the Ministry of Rural Development and Local Government reported on Twitter the river levels and damage reports. These included Caroni River at El Carmen (100 per cent full), Oropouche River (North) at Todd's Road in the Couva area (84 per cent), Caroni River at Bamboo Settlement No 3 (77 per cent), Arouca River (38 per cent), Caparo River (36 per cent) and Aripo River (34 per cent).
By 11.30 am the ministry reported the Oropouche River at Vega de Oropouche near Sangre Grande had "burst banks."
The Nariva River at Navet Village was 90 per cent full, the ministry said. The Ortoire River in places was 80-90 per cent full and the Poole River at Guayaguayare Road was 87 per cent full.

The ministry said rivers at Tamana, Coalmine, Caltoo Trace in Biche, and Martin Salazar Trace were variously 60-70 per cent full.

The MRDLG reported flooding in three regional corporations - Mayaro/Rio Claro (Cedar Grove Road), Tunapuna/Piarco (Uriah Butler Highway and Persad Street in Caroni) and Sangre Grande (Foster Road, Picton Road, Vega de Oropouche, Felmina Tobal Road, and Fishing Pond Road).
The ministry reported 90 flood reports from Tunapuna/Piarco, six at Sangre Grande, three at Penal/Debe and one at Mayaro/Rio Claro Regional Corporations.
Four landslides were reported at San Juan/Laventille and one at Siparia Regional Corporations. Two reports of hazardous/fallen trees were made at Penal/Debe Regional Corporation. One report of high winds/roof damage came from the Sangre Grande Regional Corporation.

The Office of Disaster Preparedness and Management (ODPM) reported seven landslides and one fallen tree in northwest Trinidad. Two cases of flooding had occurred in north central Trinidad, said the ODPM. No reports came of flooding in south central Trinidad.
In southwest Trinidad, the ODPM reported seven cases of flooding, one fallen tree and one landslide.

For Tobago, the Tobago Emergency Management Agency (TEMA) reported two incidents of fallen trees and five landslides.