Tornado destroys homes in Trinidad

PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, CMC – Waterspouts and a weak tornado on Tuesday damaged and blew off the roofs of several houses in northwestern Trinidad, but there were no immediate reports of injuries or deaths.

The Trinidad and Tobago Meteorological Service said that around midday (local time), “a low-level trough together with daytime heating produced strong isolated thunderstorm activity, which created waterspouts and a weak tornado over northwestern Trinidad in the vicinity of Westmoorings.”

It said that the conditions are expected to improve later on Tuesday and that partly cloudy to cloudy conditions and thunderstorm activity are ongoing.

Rural Development and Local Government Minister, Khadijah Ameen, who toured the area, told reporters that the authorities would be engaging in data collection for every damaged household.

“This is not a situation where we need to send it to them to get a grant to replace their roofs and so on,” she said, adding that other agencies like the Trinidad and Tobago Electricity Company (T&TEC) and fire services are on the ground.

“There is a serious concern here because these houses are so soaked and T&TEC has already cut off the electricity to the affected streets, and they are doing repairs to their infrastructure, the fallen lines, and so on”.

She said that some of the houses because the structure is “so soaked it is not safe to turn on electricity in that house,” warning that people could get electrocuted.

“So far we have no injuries…and we want to maintain that,” she added.

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