Sections of Guyana, on Monday evening, experienced windstorms that resulted in several houses in Region Five villages being devastated and occupants having to contend with major losses.
At Trafalgar popularly called Number 28 Village in Region Five (Mahaica-Berbice), residents say there was a rainstorm powered by lightning and thunder on Monday night. Several houses lost parts of their roofs. One building was blown off of its posts and there are reports of damage to crops.
Some residents reported that livestock died when their pens were blown down.
At around 23:00h, residents of the village say, the power went off. Many did not realise the damages until daylight.
Fiona Messiah, a teacher who lives with her seven-month-old baby, said she was forced to run to safety.
“A little bit after 8 o’clock, the rain came down very heavy with lightning and thunder and I got scared, so we decided to come out of the house. I did not know that all of this would have happened. So, we just came out of the house and I went over to my aunt’s house and spent the night,” she explained.
On Tuesday morning the 22-year-old teacher discovered that the roof and sections of the wall of her newly constructed home were on the ground. She estimated her losses to be in excess of $1 million.
“When I came outside and saw this I was very shocked and traumatised to see that something that I built as recently – I put all my efforts into. When I saw the roof, I was saying that maybe the men that did my roof did not do a good job but when I came closer and checked, the concrete walls were down. It means that when they bolt the wood into the concrete for the roof, the storm came and lift everything up and throws the roof off.”
The contents of the house were also damaged. “I have my fridge, I have my chair set, I have my wardrobe with our clothes and everything…”
Up to Tuesday afternoon, power had not been restored for her to see if electrical appliances were still in working order.
Meanwhile, as several families experienced a sleepless night as the rain poured into their homes, another resident, Lakeisha Bristol, said she was in bed when two zinc sheets from the room she was in were ripped off. The family of seven was eventually forced to converge in one room until the storm was over.
“All I hear was ‘blah dam’ and the rain started coming in and when I raised my head, I noticed that two zinc sheets from the roof come off and I came outside. The breeze starts pushing open all of the doors. In the other room, two other zinc sheets blow off. We had to come downstairs and stay in the back room because the water started to drop from upstairs by it was coming into the bedroom upstairs.”
One of the worst affected residents was Ayeshea Daniels-Kippins, who was not at home at the time. The woman said she was on her way home amid the heavy rains when she saw the power go out and took a detour and went to her mother’s home, where she spent the night.
“Like 11 o’clock last night, I was walking down the street when the lights go off. It was very stormy with lightning and thunder. The rain was very heavy and every car alarm went off as tight and you were hearing the zinc rattling but I did not know what was going on. I did not know that there was a storm – I thought it was just normal lightning and thunder. It was really dark,” she said pointing out that there was no electrical power to the community.
“When I came down this morning saw my house on the ground and with everything inside.”
Daniels-Kippins, who lives with her two grandchildren, said she was advised not to go close to the building for her own safety but this will affect her getting her personal belongings and those of her grandchildren.
The Civil Defence Commission (CDC) along with Regional Authorities are accessing the situation.
