Last Wednesday night, most were sound asleep in bed, others might have been dozing in front of the television, and some were probably still up and about to call it a night when light showers started, accompanied by a deep rumbling of thunder.
It was nothing out of the ordinary; after all, we know the weather is unpredictable. We just didn’t know how unpredictable.
Just after 10 p.m., and straight into the wee hours of the morning, something strange happened in Barbados.
Heavy downpours – four to six inches of rain –, earth-shattering thunder, gusty winds and a spectacular lightning display that we were told equated to almost 500 strikes a minute, jolted us wide awake.
One of the most gripping stories of the night was told by 81-year-old Camiston Bishop, whose house was flattened by the elements.
The Orange Hill Development, St James resident was forced to take shelter under his cellar during the befuddling event.
The elderly man told Barbados TODAY: “When this thing start about half-past 10, I got up and I said, ‘I hope the old ark [his home] here hold it own’, and all of a sudden I heard the cracking of the thunder and the fork lighting and I said ‘no, let me try and get out’.”
Fortunately, Bishop was not injured, neither was any of those who suffered damage or lost their homes.
Director of the Barbados Meteorological Services Sabu Best described the phenomenon as a freak event that sneaked up on the island in the space of an hour. He noted that such an event had never occurred in the country’s recorded history.
Best explained that the Mesoscale Convective System (MCS) was first detected 150 miles to the east-northeast of the island as a small vortex trailing a relatively weak tropical wave.
“What’s unprecedented here, and what we would love our citizens to understand, is that these features because they are very small in nature, can spin up really quickly and disappear just as quickly.
“None of them actually forecast this to happen, and so it was actually our pure skill from monitoring this system throughout the entire night to actually track it and issue the warnings just before it came onshore,” the meteorologist added.
The impact spoke volumes.
Uprooted trees, blocked roads, power cuts, water outages and significant damage to houses.
In an update today, Minister of Housing, Land and Maintenance Dr William Duguid detailed that 97 houses were damaged in the freak event.
Of those, he said, 52 were already assessed and 18 would have to rebuilt.
Minister Duguid added: “Four houses will be materials only; seven will have minor repairs and 23 major repairs, with 45 yet to be assessed.”
All this should be enough of a warning that now is time to make sure we’re prepared for what could lie ahead. We’ll be lucky to dodge any major hurricane this season as we have every year for some time now.
As we speak, Met officials are keeping a close eye on a “strong tropical wave located 500 miles east of Barbados”, which was showing increased areas of disorganized showers and thunderstorms.
The system was expected to bring occasional showers and the possibility of isolated thunderstorms from this afternoon, with between one and three inches of rain expected.
Director of the Department of Emergency Management (DEM), Kerry Hinds, today urged residents to leave nothing to chance.
And we shouldn’t.
Be sure your roof is in good shape. Make sure the trees around your home are trimmed. Check your shutters. Ready your emergency stash of water and canned goods, medicine, masks, hand sanitisers. Make a plan for what to do with your pets, particularly if you have to evacuate. Put important papers somewhere safe and dry.
This hurricane season is just getting started.
Forecasters predict we’ll see 18 named storms, eight hurricanes and four major hurricanes to be Category 3 or stronger.
Expect the unexpected. Take nothing for granted and be prepared.
