TRINIDAD and Tobago may have escaped serious impacts from Potential Tropical Cyclone Two (PTC2) on Tuesday night, but the Office of Disaster Preparedness and Management (ODPM) is urging the national community to become more “disaster aware”.
Chief executive officer of the ODPM Ret Major General Rodney Smart said yesterday while Trinidad experienced “minimal damage” from the passage of PTC2, the threat and others like it must be taken seriously.
Smart said the ODPM does not subscribe to the view that “God is a Trini”, and the agency would like to see T&T become a better prepared and a more disaster aware society.
Smart was speaking to i95 fm and later reinforced to the Express that Tuesday’s threat of severe weather was not treated lightly as the impacts of disasters have been witnessed locally and in other countries.
Smart spoke in the wake of tense preparations for the passage of PTC2 on Tuesday night into yesterday morning, with the country having been placed on tropical storm watch from Monday, starting Tuesday evening at 6 p.m.
The weather system was being watched for development into Tropical Storm Bonnie and was expected to have brought storm-force winds and prolonged, heavy rainfall.
However, most areas of the country saw some bad weather while others were left with moderate flooding following some heavy rainfall.
The tropical storm warning was discontinued by 11 p.m. on Tuesday by the Trinidad and Tobago Meteorological Service (TTMS), but an adverse weather alert took its place until 8 p.m. yesterday.
Smart said various incidents in other countries, as well as the nationwide blackout of February 16, influenced the seriousness with which the PTC2 threat was treated.
“What we hope at the ODPM is for us to become more disaster resilient and aware as a society,” he said.