OR­ANGE River­ine Flood & YEL­LOW Ad­verse Weath­er alerts cur­rent­ly are in ef­fect for both Trinidad and To­ba­go, and the me­te­o­ro­log­i­cal Ser­vice of Trinidad and To­ba­go (TTMS) has in­di­cat­ed these will re­main in ef­fect un­til late on Fri­day 7 Oc­to­ber 2022.

River­ine Flood Alert / OR­ANGE

The River­ine Flood Alerts for both Trinidad and To­ba­go were ac­ti­vat­ed at 5:03 PM on Wednes­day and will re­main in ef­fect un­til 5:00 PM on Fri­day 7 Oc­to­ber 2022. 

How­ev­er, the sta­tus was up­dat­ed from YEL­LOW to OR­ANGE at 6:55 am, to­day (Thurs­day, Oc­to­ber 6) with a par­tic­u­lar em­pha­sis on ma­jor wa­ter­cours­es of Trinidad, in­clud­ing the North Oropouche, Ca­roni and South Oropouche Rivers, as well as wa­ter­cours­es in To­ba­go, in­clud­ing the Crooks and Dar­rell Spring Rivers.

The Min­istry of Rur­al De­vel­op­ment and Lo­cal Gov­ern­ment (RDLG is ad­vis­ing that to­day’s High Tides will re­sult in slow­er wa­ter run-off.  The next High Tide will be at 2:03 pm for Trinidad, and 1: 47 pm for To­ba­go.

Ac­cord­ing to the Met Ser­vice:

“Con­tin­u­ous rain­fall overnight has pushed ma­jor wa­ter­cours­es to crit­i­cal thresh­olds and some may be close to over­spilling or al­ready do­ing so. Pe­ri­ods of heavy show­ers, rain and thun­der­storms are still ex­pect­ed. This ad­di­tion­al rain­fall, in com­bi­na­tion with spring tides, can keep the riv­er lev­els el­e­vat­ed and there now ex­ists a se­vere risk to pub­lic safe­ty, liveli­hood and prop­er­ty. Small­er wa­ter cours­es over both Trinidad and To­ba­go are al­so el­e­vat­ed and can burst their banks with ad­di­tion­al rain­fall.”

The state of the South Oropouche River, along Debe Trace in Debe, as at 10:30 am on Thursday, October 6. [Image by RISHI RAGOONATH]

Mem­bers of the pub­lic are be­ing urged to do the fol­low­ing:

—Fi­nal­ize prepa­ra­tions to pro­tect lives, liveli­hoods, and prop­er­ty.

—Ac­ti­vate your safe­ty plan. Se­cure food, wa­ter, and med­i­cine for at least 7 days in wa­ter­proof con­tain­ers. Pro­tect im­por­tant as­sets and doc­u­ments.

—DO NOT TAKE UN­NEC­ES­SARY RISKS.

—Fol­low the in­struc­tions of gov­ern­ment of­fi­cials, and con­tin­ue to mon­i­tor of­fi­cial sources for in­for­ma­tion at www.metof­fice.gov.tt/ and www.odpm.gov.ttv

Ad­verse Weath­er Alert / YEL­LOW

The Ad­verse Weath­er Alert / YEL­LOW was ac­ti­vat­ed on Wednes­day at 12 am, and will re­main in ef­fect un­til 12 pm on Fri­day, Oc­to­ber 7.

The Met Ser­vice re­ports:

“The ax­is of the trop­i­cal wave is now west of T&T. How­ev­er, the at­mos­phere re­mains sig­nif­i­cant­ly moist and un­sta­ble. Pe­ri­ods of rain and/or show­ers of vary­ing in­ten­si­ties are still ex­pect­ed. There is al­so a high (70%) chance of oc­ca­sion­al heavy show­ers and thun­der­storms that can pro­duce in­tense rain­fall in ex­cess of 25 mm.”

Fore­cast­ers note that some of these show­ers can be­come heavy and/or thun­dery es­pe­cial­ly near east­ern Trinidad and To­ba­go.

“Some set­tling is ex­pect­ed by late evening in­to night, de­spite the lin­ger­ing show­er. Gusty winds in ex­cess of 55 km/h may be ex­pe­ri­enced es­pe­cial­ly in the vicin­i­ty of heavy show­ers/thun­der­storms,” the Met Ser­vice says in its ad­vi­sories.  “Street/flash flood­ing and lo­cal­ized pond­ing are al­so like­ly in heavy down­pours or thun­der­storms. Land­slides/land­slips are al­so pos­si­ble in ar­eas so prone.”

Water levels at Greenvale Bridge, as of 9:30 am, on Thursday, October 6. [Image by KEJAN HAYNES]

It added: “Spring Tides are in ef­fect un­til Thurs­day 13 Oc­to­ber. Per­sons with ma­rine in­ter­ests are ad­vised to ex­er­cise cau­tion, par­tic­u­lar­ly dur­ing high tides.”

Mem­bers of the pub­lic are be­ing urged to do the fol­low­ing:

—Do not wade or dri­ve through flood wa­ters.

—Se­cure loose out­door items and live­stock.

—Mon­i­tor weath­er con­di­tions and riv­er lev­els.

—DO NOT TAKE UN­NEC­ES­SARY RISKS.

—Fol­low the in­struc­tions of gov­ern­ment of­fi­cials, and con­tin­ue to mon­i­tor of­fi­cial sources for in­for­ma­tion at www.metof­fice.gov.tt/ and www.odpm.gov.ttv