Flood-Ravaged Caribbean Braces for Early Hurricane Season Surge

The Caribbean is grappling with severe flooding across various islands after heavy rainfall and wet conditions from this weekend. The stormy conditions across these islands have raised serious concerns regarding an early and intense start to the 2025 Atlantic Hurricane Season which is just days away.  

As per reports, several islands particularly in the eastern Caribbean including St Kitts, Antigua, Anguilla, Jamaica, and others including Trinidad and Tobago, Martinique faced the intense showers over the weekend, which flooded most of the islands and caused difficulty in commuting. Several warnings were also issued across these islands from the authorities, with Trinidad and Tobago on Yellow Alert.  

First Tropical Wave heads towards Caribbean  

Reports are emerging from the met department that a tropical wave has emerged from off the West Coast of Africa, and is moving towards the west at a low speed of 5-8 m/s. However, the speed may increase as the tropical wave moves towards the Caribbean. The wave is within the monsoon trough and will produce moderate to heavy showers along with isolated thunderstorms across its vicinity.  

As per the met department, the forecast models state that the tropical wave will approach the Lesser Antilles by the coming Sunday and could cause significant rainfall and thunderstorms across the wider Caribbean. According to some other reports, this year the conditions across the ITCZ (Intertropical Convergence Zone) are much more favorable leading to an early start of the wet season.  

The ITCZ is a low-pressure belt near the equator and affects the countries near to it, where trade winds from the northern and southern hemisphere converge and cause an increase in rainfall and cloud cover. ITCZ position significantly impacts the Caribbean’s weather and rainfall patterns, and this is the reason that the islands are suffering intense rainfall for a few days as the ITCZ has already made an onset. The coming week is expected to be wet with low to heavy showers across the countries.  

Is this an early hurricane season? 

As per the early reports emerging from the met department, this year the hurricane season or the storm season seems to start early. According to previous year’s data, the hurricane season was intense and destructive as well early in the season. Hurricane Beryl was one of the major hurricanes that struck the Caribbean and caused widespread damage early in the season.  

This further intensifies the fact that this year the wet season may start earlier than expected. Also, the coming tropical wave which is most likely to hit Trinidad and Tobago further highlights that this year the hurricane season may have an early start.