By Farah Bates
“I see one set of thing flying, all them house thing deh in the air. It was a lot of confusion. I don’t even know what to do now because this thing just damage my whole house. My husband went to work when this thing happen and I had to send call him because I get so confuse. When I fall down from the step, I roll down about four step and I get up and run out”
A sudden storm on Thursday ripped through West Coast Berbice, leaving a family with tremendous losses after the roof of their house was blown away by the heavy wind.
Reeta Persaud of Lot 71 Blairmont, #1 Settlement estimated her losses to be in the millions as her entire house was severely damaged by strong winds which lasted for several minutes early Thursday morning.
Persaud who lives together with her husband said they recently built the house and is still in the process of completing it; however she noted that this incident has now put a strain on them as they have to begin seeking other alternatives to do even more construction work on their house.
Several other houses were also affected by the storm but Persaud suffered the most. During an interview on Thursday, Persaud noted that she was home alone when the incident occurred. She said she was lucky enough to escape the ordeal without being hurt.
“This morning around 07:30 time this storm pass and it was like a fireball, it destroyed my whole house from upstairs to downstairs. All my roof and everything just blow away. It destroy me so much and the zinc from the roof nah good no more so I can’t take it and fix it back. I was going to bathe same time it pass and I had to run for my life or I would have been a dead person,” Persaud recounted.
Persaud said at the time, she was making her way upstairs when she noticed that the shed from the stairway came tumbling down. As such, she said she ran to rescue but fell on the stairway which causing her minor injuries to her feet. Luckily, neighbours who were around assisted her.
“I see one set of thing flying, all them house thing deh in the air. It was a lot of confusion. I don’t even know what to do now because this thing just damage my whole house. My husband went to work when this thing happen and I had to send call him because I get so confuse. When I fall down from the step, I roll down about four step and I get up and run out”
The distress woman said, not only her roof was blown away but some of her clothes that were on the line were picked up by the wind and blown away. A few other houses had some effects of the storm but they suffered minor damages and the residents were able to put those back together.
“I don’t know what to say because right now I am not in that position to deal with all of this damage. To do a roof is very expensive and my roof just come out completely. I don’t have any damages to electrical stuff but my netting blow away and my bed sponge and pillow case and everything wet up. Two netting blow away but I find back one and I had some clothes on the line that blow away too. I don’t know where they gone”
Persaud said she is willing to accept any assistance from the public to put her house back together. Persons desirous of lending support to the family can make contact with Reeta Persaud on telephone number 677-4033 or 638-7467.
