[UPDATED] Bad weather blows down trees, rips off roofs

STRONG winds and heavy rains on May 18 downed trees and blew off the roof of a house in the Penal district.

A statement issued by the Office of Disaster Preparedness and Management (ODPM) said these incidents happened in the Penal-Siparia areas.

The ODPM added that the Penal/Debe Regional Corporation (PDRC) and the Siparia Borough Corporation (SBC) were mobilising resources.

There were also reports of roofs of four houses blown off in Cedros.

Contacted via WhatApp, PDRC chairman Gowtam Maharaj said the corporation's personnel were on site and assessing the situation.

He added that he accompanied first responders and members of the PDRC's disaster management unit (DMU) to the locations in Penal/Debe affected by the bad weather.

Maharaj said relief supplies were provided to the people whose roofs were blown off.

He also said the DMU, municipal police and Fire Service officers helped to clear a tree which had fallen in Mohess Road and was blocking traffic.

Siparia Mayor Doodnath Mayhroo said the SBC estimated ten-15 houses had their roofs blown off.

He added that these houses were in areas such as Fyzabad, Brighton/Vessigny and Cedros.

The SBC also had to deal with fallen trees and fallen lightpoles.

Mayhroo said the SBC's DMU were out in the field assessing the situation and relief supplies wre being provided to those affected.

He also said the T&T Electricity Commission had personnel addressing the fallen lightpoles.

Julie Deonarine, a resident of Hermitage Road, Macaulay, said the bad weather caused a tree to fall between her house and the house of a relative.

Deonarine, 48, was not at home at the time of the incident. She said her relative was also not home. Deonarine was thankful that no one was injured.

She said part of the tree is still on top of her relative's house and she hopes to have it removed next week.

Some of the tree's branches, Deonarine said, fell on top of a metal dog kennel near her house.

She said her son's dog Princess, who was in the kennel at the time, was not injured

Deonarine recalled that three years ago, a water tank and lightpole near her house were damaged during another period of bad weather. She was grateful there was no repeat of that situation this time.

The ODPM subsequently posted photos on social media showing fallen trees which had been removed from the road.

The ODPM also said a video posted on social media of what was claimed to be flooding in St Ann's was fake.

There were also unconfirmed reports of bad weather affecting parts of La Brea and Tobago.

This story has been adjusted to include additional details. See original post below.

STRONG winds and heavy rains on May 18 downed trees and blew off the roof of one house in Penal district.

A statement issued by the Office of Disaster Preparedness and Management (ODPM) said these incidents happened in the Penal-Siparia areas.

The ODPM added that the Penal/Debe Regional Corporation and the Siparia Borough Corporation were mobilising resources to address these matters.

There were also reports of roofs of four houses blown off in Cedros.