Source: Trinidad Express
Tropical Storm Bret started its call to Barbados early yesterday, with high winds causing early damage in some communities as the island came under a tropical storm warning later in the evening.
Barbadians were warned by Deputy Prime Minister Santia Bradshaw to stay off the streets last night when Bret was forecast to be at its most dangerous.
When Barbados was still under a tropical storm watch yesterday morning, some trees were uprooted and houses damaged in Dunlow Lane, Bay Street, just outside Bridgetown, where a homeowner escaped serious injury after a tree fell into the home.
In addition, residents in St Philip reported a significant increase in wind gusts in that eastern parish which led to trees being uprooted.
“We advise you to be off the road by 6 p.m. If you do not have to be on the road, please stay at home and take all necessary precautions to ensure your safety. This is also an opportunity to check on your elderly neighbours and people living in your neighbourhood who are vulnerable,” Bradshaw said.
“Let us be our brother’s keeper,” she suggested while noting that Category 1 shelters stood ready to accept people who did not feel safe at home.
At 5 p.m. yesterday, Bret was located at 13.4 degrees North and 59.6 degrees West. The system was moving in a west-north-westerly direction at 16 miles per hour, around 15 miles (25 kilometers) northwest of Barbados, packing winds of 65 miles per hour.
St Lucia had already been placed on hurricane watch, as Bret neared the 75-mile-per-hour wind platform that would see the cyclone upgraded to a Category 1 hurricane.
Barbadians had seen a shift in the weather from just after 8 a.m. when winds picked up in the south and the north of the island. Before midday, there were also pauses that saw winds drop significantly, leading to a lull before the storm.
Throughout the early part of yesterday, Barbados Meteorological Services (BMS) reported that Bret had slowed down but also strengthened as it made its way to the Eastern Caribbean island chain at 15 miles per hour with 70-mile-per-hour winds.