Meteorology Dept. says more rains for coming days
Dennis Gonguez
NEMO keeps close contact with the Meteorology Department that is stationed at the Philip Goldson International Airport. An hour after the NEMO advisory, the MET Office indicated that at three p.m., tropical depression number two was located near latitude eighteen point three-eight north and longitude ninety-one point nine west; that is essentially at the Bay of Campeche near the Gulf of Mexico. Chief MET Officer, Dennis Gonguez, told News Five’s Jose Sanchez that there will be more rains during the next two days and we should all keep our eyes on the next system on the horizon.
Dennis Gonguez, Chief Meteorologist
“That’s just about entering the Bay of Campeche. It is moving towards the west-north-west at ten miles per hour and it has maximum sustained winds of thirty miles per hour.”
Jose Sanchez
“When it comes to the rains, is it almost fully gone? How much more weather should we be seeing?”
Dennis Gonguez
“Well the system, although it will be in the Bay of Campeche, will still be supporting some unstable conditions over our area. So we can still see some two to three inches spread out over the couple of days. So we could see two to three inches spread out between Wednesday and Thursday.”
Jose Sanchez
“In terms of the severity of it as a tropical depression, what’s your synopsis?”
Dennis Gonguez
“Well the major threat from it was the rainfall. We got as high as thirteen point five inches of rainfall in Pomona from Sunday, Monday and today; we had thirteen point inches of rainfall at Pomona. At Melinda in the Stann Creek District, we also had nine point five inches of rainfall. So we had significant amounts of rainfall associated with this system and that is typically with a tropical depression. The threat might not be from the winds, but we have the threat of heavy rainfall, intense rainfall associated with tropical depressions.”
Jose Sanchez
“Are you aware of any flashfloods or any runoffs throughout the country?”
Dennis Gonguez
“Well I have received some information from the hydrology unit here. They’re saying that the North Stann Creek River is at flood stage, I believe it is flooding by now. The Mullins River is also at flood stage. The Sittee River at Kendall is also rising and rivers in the south such as the South Stann Creek, the Deep River and most of the others for the south are above normal and are rising.”
Jose Sanchez
“Should we expect those levels to continue to rise over the next couple days or should it…how long before it actually levels out?”
Dennis Gonguez
“Another two to three inches spread out over the next two days or so, then we can expect those rivers to continue to gradually rise.”
Jose Sanchez
“In terms of safety, is there any particular community that should be on the lookout for this floodwater?”
Dennis Gonguez
“I don’t know of any in particular, but those in low-lying and you know that you are prone to floods annually, then you should be on the lookout for rising waters.”
Jose Sanchez
“As a part of NEMO, have you discussed any particular issue, since we are not getting a full communication from NEMO?”
Dennis Gonguez
“Well NEMO has been sharing its bulletins with us. We do the input of the meteorological side and they have been sharing bulletins with us.”
Jose Sanchez
“And as you have said before, it is going to be a very active season and it started that way.”
Dennis Gonguez
“Right. We’re only into the second, approaching the third week of June and we’ve already had two tropical depressions and one became Tropical Storm Andrea. So it seems that this system will be a bit active.”
Jose Sanchez
“Nothing currently on the proverbial horizon?”
Dennis Gonguez
“Well there is another active tropical wave entering the eastern Caribbean and that looks again for the weekend. So we have to keep our eyes open as the weekend approaches.”
The MET Office is open seven days a week. In addition to radio updates and advisories issued on its website, there is a hotline with a recorded forecast that anyone can dial and get a weather update. That number is 225-2480.
