Moontown

Pedro Villaroel Guerra, general manager of the facility in central Cienfuegos province, said that 13.5 million barrels have been processed this year, while in 2008 the number was 21.5 millions, reported Juventud Rebelde newspaper. The executive said that the refining goal for this year is being met according to their plan.

At the moment, the most important goals they have is the building of four new large tanks, which will increase the refinery’s storage capacity to 80 000 cubic meters.

Julio Sanchez Gil, expansion manager of this entity, explained that the new tanks will be 12 meter high, with a conical rigid roof, and that in their structures they are using two kinds of welding: an electrical-
manual and automated, which increases productivity.

Starting on Monday, the refinery workers will start testing the tanks in order to determine their airtightness, announced Cirilo Armas, the main contractor.

The Camilo Cienfuegos refinery is currently processing 65 000 barrels per day, a figure that will increase to 150,000 after the expansion works are completed.

Trinidad Express

Renuka Singh

Flood ride: A resident of Rochard Douglas Road, Barrackpore, takes a ride through flood waters yesterday after heavy rains on Saturday left part of the village under water. -Photo: DAVE PERSAD

A small twister yesterday enthralled residents of East and Central Trinidad for more than 20 minutes as it appeared and disappeared among heavy dark clouds.

Visible from Macoya in the East to Cunupia in Central Trinidad, eyewitnesses claimed the funnel-shaped twister did not make contact with the ground but kept nearby homeowners worried about any resulting structural damage to their property.

Declan Littrean,39, spotted the twister from his home in Macoya. He said he just walked onto his patio when he spotted the twister “perfectly formed and about the size of a matchstick”. By the time he got his camera phone and returned it had grown to the width of a pencil and maintained that size until it eventually dissipated five to seven minutes later, he explained.

” We called out to the neighbours and everybody gathered around to look at it. It was the first time I’ve ever seen anything like it,” Littrean marvelled.

Littrean said Macoya was experiencing strange weather yesterday.

“The sun was really hot right before midday and then it was suddenly overcast. We saw the twister and then the place cooled considerably and a really cold rain fell soon afterwards,” he said.

George Mendoza, 50, also experienced the natural phenomenon. Mendoza said he was driving from his home in Cunupia to a nearby hardware in Warrenville, a small village just north of Cunupia, when he spotted a line of people on both sides of the street, all looking up.

“My first thought was that it looked like a strange cone cloud and I thought ‘clouds don’t look like that’. Then it started to move, so I pulled out my phone and filmed it,” Mendoza related.

A meteorologist at the Met Office in Piarco explained that most twisters usually occurred around midday during overcast conditions, but only if no rain has fallen.

“Twisters occur when there are high temperatures, very light winds and a moist atmosphere. If rain falls before, it will lower the temperature and change the conditions. Twisters usually form on or before midday as that is when temperatures are highest. Rain will fall soon after the twister has formed and dissipated,” he explained.

Both the Meteorological Office in Piarco and the Office of Disaster Preparedness and Management (ODPM) in Tacarigua said they received calls yesterday regarding the weather phenomenon, but both said there were no reports of any damage caused by the event.

Nikita Braxton South Bureau

RARE SIGHT: A twister caused a stir among residents of East and Central Trinidad yesterday when it was spotted around midday. The Met Office said It did not cause any damage to property. -Photo: Siva Singh

Thirty-six houses were affected by heavy rains over the weekend, the Office of Disaster Preparedness and Management (ODPM) said yesterday.

In a “Situation Update” released at 12.30 p.m. the ODPM said the homes fell within four municipalities and all cases had been attended to by the respective authorities, including the Fire Service, regional corporations and the Ministry of Social Development.

In areas of South Trinidad, residents were repairing roofs and cleaning their damaged homes yesterday as well as counting their losses.

Residents of Mahabalsingh Branch Trace, Navet Village, Rio Claro, gave up Sunday lunches and family time to repair their roofs which had been blown away by high winds.

Gina Ramkissoon said she was lying on her bed when she heard the loud crashing sound. “It happened in a split second. Half of the roof was ripped off from my house. Several trees were also uprooted,” she said.

Ramkissoon yesterday said she and her 17-year-old daughter Yudika were still traumatised by the incident. The family of five lost electronic items and appliances and a wall under the house was also destroyed.

Six other houses in the area were similarly affected.

The walls of Cecil Persad’s wooden home were torn down by the strong winds. Eleven people were affected in his family and he estimated damage at $80,000.

As residents tried to salvage their belongings they spoke yesterday of their fear of being trapped as the only bridge leading out of the village was on the verge of being covered with water.

“We don’t expect this water to go down until the next two to three days,” Ramkissoon said.

In Barrackpore, residents were still marooned in their homes as floodwaters covered roads yesterday.

Residents were seen wading through knee and waist-high water to gain access to their houses.

-with reporting by

Trevor Watson