A fierce band of severe thunderstorms driven by the Inter-tropical Convergence Zone swept through the Trinidadian community of Sangre Grande yesterday, leaving a trail of damage that includes at least eight displaced residential roofs, a fallen communications tower, and widespread power outages across the Ojoe Road corridor.
The worst of the weather hit shortly after 8 a.m., when torrential downpours, frequent lightning, and sudden gusty winds surged through eastern Trinidad, where the highest rainfall totals—between 20 and 50 millimeters—were recorded. For Simeon Joel Spence, a resident along Azalea Circular, the storm brought sudden and unexpected destruction to his home. While he and his family worked to hold back incoming rain from a broken window by weighting down curtains, a loud shift in the structure revealed half of his entire roof had torn free from the framing. The missing half of the roof landed three properties away in a neighbor’s yard, smashing the front passenger window of a parked car and leaving crumpled debris behind.
Local Government Minister Khadijah Ameen later confirmed Spence’s home was one of eight properties across the area that suffered full or partial roof loss during the extreme weather. Farther along Ojoe Road, at the intersection of Graham and Katwaroo Trace, the high winds proved too strong for a standing cellular communications tower, which toppled into a set of overhead power lines, dragging them to the ground with it. Nearby residents reported hearing a noise similar to a large explosion just before the tower crashed down. In a separate incident along the same corridor, a fully grown large tree was also uprooted by wind gusts and fell across additional power lines.
The Trinidad and Tobago Electricity Commission (T&TEC) reported the fault on the 12kV feeder line running from the Sangre Grande Substation was registered at 8:21 a.m., right as peak wind and rain hit the region. The outages extended as far as the local Multipurpose Sporting Facility, leaving the entire Ojoe Road area without power for hours. By mid-afternoon, crews had restored service to customers as far out as Adventist Street and Katwaroo Trace, with extra work teams deployed to the remaining affected zones. T&TEC projected full power restoration by 6 p.m. yesterday and issued a formal apology to all customers impacted by the unplanned outage.
Meteorological officials linked the severe weather to the seasonal activity of the Inter-tropical Convergence Zone, which generates scattered thunderstorms across Trinidad this time of year. Forecasts issued yesterday afternoon called for additional rounds of thunderstorms and rainfall through the evening, concentrated again in southern and eastern regions of the country. Hazards forecaster warned residents to prepare for continued gusty winds, frequent lightning strikes, and potential localized street flooding in low-lying areas.