BPL reports power outages amid adverse weather conditions
NASSAU, BAHAMAS — Residents in South Beach New Providence experienced a tornado yesterday, according to meteorologists, after waterspouts were spotted in eastern and western New Providence as well as in waters around Eleuthera.
Waterspouts occur over water, however, once they make landfall they are considered tornados.
Craig Lowe, founder of the Storm Intercept Weather Network, told Eyewitness News the organization received information about adverse weather activities in the Marshall Road area and a team was sent out to investigate.
Lowe said: “We’ve conducted a survey with our disaster assessment team. Based on the initial report that we have right now, the event that occurred on Marshall Road was in fact a tornado.”
He explained that initial information showed that the system started over water in the marshland before it made landfall into the dry area of the marshland.
Lowe said the team continued to dissect the matter and consult the Department of Meteorology, which for its part advised a frontal system that was spawning severe thunderstorm cells was tracking across the northwest Bahamas.
“We have concerned reports of not just them (thunderstorms) in the Caves area but in the eastern part of New Providence where the cell was, as well as in Eleuthera, where another waterspout was spotted,” said a Met Department spokesperson.
According to the department, the severe thunderstorms and adverse weather, including the waterspouts, are expected to subside sometime today.
“The cold front is slowly moving toward the southeast,” the spokesperson said.
“You do have some instability that is still within the area of the cold front. So, if the bounds of the cold front itself continue to move southward, we will still have those events that will occur until it starts to weaken across the central Bahamas.”
Mariners in the northwest Bahamas have been advised to remain “vigilant due to the threat of possible waterspout activity”.
Bahamas Power and Light (BPL) was also impacted as a result of weather conditions yesterday.
The power company advised that customers in the Winton area in eastern New Providence experienced brief outages due to a lightning strike.
BPL said an on-team site was also investigating outages in the western area but that power supply was restored to those areas by the afternoon.
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