By Martha Taumata Faavae
Dark and gloomy looking days with endless wet weather are being publicly tolerated as typical of the worst month in the cyclone season, February.
Many of the most traveled sections of the road in urban Apia and the outskirts are pockmarked with potholes, water puddles and slippery mud on the sides.
The one shinning note to emerge out of the sulky condition is the assurance from the Met Office that the current prediction for Samoa of 0-1 chance of a tropical cyclone still stands.
“But we’re keeping close watch with 2 tropical cyclones in Fiji already within our 6 island region in the South- West Pacific,” acting head of the Met Office. Fuimaono Lameko Talia told Newsline Samoa.
Met Office records for the 2018-2019 year period showed 13 tropical depressions compared to 10 for 2019-2020.
Average rainfall for 2020 was above average in most places compared to the last 30 years.
A slight increase in the sea level was recorded from 4mm to about 4.5mm since the year 2010.
The year 2020 was warmer than average compared to 30 years of data. Maximum Temp is about 31.7 deg. C while the minimum was 23.1 deg. C in 2020.
Keeping close watch of the weather patterns also is the Disaster Management Office for damages to the surrounding environments and the risks to public safety from severe conditions
“Flooding is the main cause of concern for now with the Apia urban area the most vulnerable so far,” a DMO spokesperson said without going into the ‘many contributing factors.
Flooding in the township is already a known concern with normal traffic movement hindered by water buildup from the rains and riverbanks overflow.
“Fortunately for us the heavy rains of the last two months December- January did not bring in strong gusting winds as well or it would have caused more safety worries.”
The DMO spokesperson admitted that from a disaster management perspective the damaging effects of climate change stands out noticeably.
From a business perspective the ongoing period of wet weather and its effects on normal daily living is bad for the flea market vendors.
Aleisa mother Aliitia Lio is one of the Savalalo Flea market vendors in a struggle with poor sales blamed on poor weather.
“The COVID-19 and the rains has much to do with the bad sales because there are hardly any people around,” Lio moaned.
“We’re also forced to leave some of our stock at home and some days we stayed home so as not to expose our stuff to the wet weather.”
Vendors like Lio have not been as regular as they would have preferred to open for business because of poor sales.
Now and then they would pop in for a day to ‘test the market for any changes.”
Lio is not ready to give up and is challenging herself to come up with new ideas to boost consumer interest so they can improve on sales.