innis_francis@yahoo.com
A family of six, including a five-month-old baby, was yesterday jolted from sleep by heavy wind and rain, which caused part of the roof of their home at Rosehill Street, Claxton Bay, to be torn off.
Raphael James, 56, and his common-law wife Susan Niles, 45, live in the house with their four children ages 13, ten, five, and their five-month-old baby. James said this was the first time in the 14 years he has lived there that he had experienced a disaster of that nature to his home.
“I just heard the heavy wind and when I watch I just saw sheets of galvanize flying off the roof in the kitchen area. This follow with the rain, and right now in that area is only water coming in, we can’t cook or do nothing there. I will welcome some assistance. I am a hustler; whatever little odd end I get to do that is how we really make a living,” he said
Niles works with CEPEP but with four children the family struggles to make ends meet
She said: “My first child is waiting on SEA results. The ten-year-old cannot do the virtual classes because we do not have computers, a smartphone, or the internet, so I went to the school and collected the package and when I went to return it on Friday, the security officials there said he cannot take the package, because it have no school officials there to collect it.”
The couple said URP did some drainage work at the front of their home, but it was poorly done and it floods whenever it rains. Niles said the continued land erosion has caused both their front and back steps and the house foundation to weaken, especially when it rains.
They are calling on the authorities for assistance
Councilor Shazeeda Nadia Khan-Mohammed said information was sent to the first responders of the Disaster Management Unit in the Couva/Tabaquite/Talparo Regional Corporation and a team had been dispatched to visit the family.
There was flash flooding in several parts of south Trinidad, including Clarke Road, and Rochard Road, Penal, San Francique, and Siparia. Residents said the water quickly subsided.