Story and photos byShastri Boodan
A freak storm in Central Trinidad left ten people without a proper place to sleep after high winds on Saturday morning ripped off the roofs of two homes in Palmiste Village along the Caparo Valley Brasso Road.
Residents said that trailing galavanised sheets from the homes also severed nearby telephone wires shortly after 8:30 am.
Fedel Marajah, 47, a mechanic, said the breeze ripped off the roof of the house that is divided into two apartments.
Marajah said he was appealing for assistance to rebuild the roof.
He shares the apartment with his wife Cindy Sooklal, 33, and their children Dominic Marajah, 8, Abigail Marajah, 15 and Fedel Darrly Marajah, 21.
The other apartment is occupied by Ryan Sooklal, 28, and his common law wife Thelma Gueverra, 43, and her son Josiah Ablack, 14 and Indra Tilkaran, 57.
Cindy Sooklal, a food vendor, said she was asleep on her bed with her son when she heard a loud noise and then felt the rain wetting her.
Thelma Gueverra and her common-law husband Ryan Sooklal stand in the remains of what little they owned following a freak storm at their apartment yesterday morning.
SHASTRI BOODAN
“We sleeping and we feel that we getting wet and we ran out, remember you sleeping and you shock and you couldn’t grab anything, we just run across outside, we ent get to save nothing, everybody in their nightgown,” said a shaken Sooklal.
Sooklal said the rain damaged all the furniture, appliances, schoolbooks and the children’s computers. But Sooklal was able to salvage some clothing and groceries that were not completely drenched from the heavy downpour.
The distraught woman said the roof was so badly damaged that she did not know where she and her family would spend last night.
Sooklal said because of the condition of the overhead wooden beams, she did not believe that the tarpaulins, given to them by the Disaster Management Unit (DMU) of the Couva/Tabaquite/Talparo Regional Corporation (CTTRC), would be of any help should they experience another bout of heavy rainfall. Gueverra, who works in a chicken depot, said she was at work when she got the bad news about the damage to her apartment.
Gueverra said all of Josiah’s books were damaged and she lost all of her clothes and appliances.
Ryan Sooklal, who also works in the poultry industry, said life had been very difficult since the pandemic and he was not getting regular work because of the economy.
Residents outside one of damaged home after a freak storm yesterday morning at Palmiste Village Caparo Valley Brasso Road left ten people without a place to sleep.
SHASTRI BOODAN
He said this was a further set back to him and his family.
Charles Seeraj, who lives across the road from the damaged apartment, lost six roofing sheets and was given a tarpaulin and a mattress from the DMU.
Gopichan Ramnath, Shawn Redhead, Anissa Ramjag and Wendy Hardeen of the DMU of the CTTRC responded with relief items.
Ramnath said the DMU got the call around 10.30 am and contacted the different agencies to get the utilities disconnected. Ramnath said the DMU was able to provide mattresses and tarpaulins and other relief items.
In a telephone interview CTTRC Chairman Henry Awong, urged members of the public to inspect their roofs and conduct repairs.
Awong said: “We would like persons to take a proactive approach and repair their roofs, change rotten beams, install hurricane straps.
“This can save you from incurring tremendous losses.
“People who cannot afford must have access to funds from the National Commission for Self Help Limited to do preventative maintenance.
“Self Help too must get on board and be proactive and make themselves more accessible to persons who cannot afford.”
