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  • 2 years ago
The Minister of Public Utilities will be approaching the Cabinet for approval... for T&TEC crews to travel to neighbouring CARICOM islands to assist in the rehabilitation of their electricity services following Hurricane Beryl. The Minister gave some insight at the recommissioning of the Doppler Weather Radar in Brasso Venado.
Transcript
00:00Just yesterday and day before, I got a request from three Caribbean countries, including
00:12Grenada, for TNTEC to come up to help restore electricity.
00:20TNTEC is at this time liaising with the governments of Grenada, Jamaica and St Vincent, with a
00:25view to travelling to their respective islands to assist in the rehabilitation of their electrical
00:30services.
00:32Minister Gonzalez says once all the necessary information is received as to what manpower
00:37materials and the like are needed, he will be approaching Cabinet for approval to dispatch
00:42teams.
00:43He shared praise for both TNTEC and WASA in the aftermath of Hurricane Beryl, while dishing
00:48out condemnation for the opposition.
00:52When we got a little hit in Tobago from Hurricane Beryl, in a matter of 24 hours, let's say
01:0336 hours, most of the affected areas that had an impact or disruption in their electricity
01:11and water supply, TNTEC and WASA sprung into service and they restored water and electricity
01:19within the space of 36 hours in Tobago and some parts of Trinidad.
01:25And guess what?
01:27Guess what?
01:29Before 48 hours, I was in Parliament answering questions as to why TNTEC and WASA are taking
01:35so long.
01:36The Minister was speaking at the recommissioning of the Doppler weather radar in Brasov, Venado.
01:40The Met Service had been without the benefit of this key weather prediction tool for the
01:45last few years.
01:46From the refurbishment and the reinstatement of the Doppler radar, you would see the acquisition
01:52of a GOES-16 satellite information system.
01:55How much is it costing?
01:58So if you feel that we are – how much?
02:02If you feel that we are stopping here, it was reported to me this morning that next
02:09month we will be commissioning the GOES-16 system for the Met Office, thereby increasing
02:18their capacity to provide real-time and accurate information to the people of Trinidad and
02:26Tobago and the region where extreme weather is concerned.
02:31The Doppler radar provides weather monitoring within a 400-kilometre radius.
02:36The data collected will be shared with our regional counterparts to assist in the development
02:41of mitigation strategies.
02:44Vanessa Cutting, TV6 News.
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