Met Office downgrades yellow alert after heavy rain

The Met Office has discontinued its adverse weather alert which has been downgraded from the yellow level to the green level.

It said most of the impactful weather has dissipated, but there may be persistent light showers accompanied by gusty winds.

For the rest of Saturday, the Met Office has forecast mostly cloudy with intermittent periods of showers/rain in varying localities that may become heavy and thundery in a few areas.

It said improvements were expected by late Saturday afternoon and the nighttime would be mostly settled with a few lingering showers.

But bad weather on Saturday morning damaged homes, blew off roofs and down trees in several areas across the country. The hardest hit was the East/West corridor.

The Office of Disaster Preparedness and Management (ODPM) said by midday there were 27 incidents reported throughout the regions.

It noted that from Glencoe to Sangre Grande, there were reports of 11 fallen trees, eight blown off roofs, two partially blown off roofs, one damaged roof and one blocked roadway at the La Horquette Branch Road which has since been cleared.

A fallen tree along the Queen’s Park Savannah, in the vicinity of Queen's Royal College has also been cleared.

In the South/Central region there was one report of a partially blown off roof in Calcutta #2 and one report of a roof completely blown off in Las Lomas #2.

No injuries or flooding were reported.

The ODPM said it was important that people be prepared for the wet/hurricane season because adverse conditions can happen at any time.

It said by staying informed, making an emergency plan, building an emergency kit and getting involved in the community are some ways to prevent major losses and injuries.

It advised that hazards in communities should be identified, contact information for first responders should be known and updates about weather conditions should be closely monitored.

Emergency plans should also be made with family members and it should also include physical distancing and covid19 guidelines in the event of a disaster.

The ODPM further added that emergency kits should be readily available with supplies, including face masks, to last up to 72 hours or three days.