00:00Trinidad and Tobago Meteorological Service has put both Trinidad and Tobago on drought watch
00:04with extra emphasis on Tobago and northeast Trinidad.
00:08This comes amid sustained high temperatures alongside decreased rainfall.
00:14Due to this rainfall deficit, Tobago has been like moderately dry
00:19with a dry spell occurring in central and northeastern Tobago
00:24and it's been abnormally dry across the rest of Tobago, that is southwest Tobago
00:29and indeed some of that abnormal dryness has been creeping into northeastern Trinidad
00:34around the Valencia area and Sandy Grandy as well.
00:39So we have been seeing this trend over the past few months
00:45and the concerns are that we may see some long-term drought conditions
00:51impacting large rivers and reservoirs and groundwater by November.
00:58The advisory comes in the midst of the hurricane season conditions, which are unusual for this time of year.
01:04The Met Service says dry conditions could continue into the new year.
01:08Persons are advised to conserve water where possible.
01:12Bearing in mind that earlier this year we also had some rainfall deficits.
01:17So the amount of rainfall that we need to recharge all our watercourses, etc.,
01:23we are still behind in that regard.
01:27So even though we are in the rainy season and we're seeing rainfall,
01:30that rainfall is not being sufficient to push us in terms of what we normally get for this time of
01:38year.
01:38So the El Nino is playing a part and it's set to get even stronger through the latter half of
01:442026
01:45and may also impact us as we go into the 2027 dry season.
01:51And here we are.
