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Ravindra
CFR
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Posted: Thu Jun 7th, 2007 01:03 pm |
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Strong wind blows off roofs at Anna Catherina
Friday, May 18th 2007
Basiran Khan's Anna Catherina home which was severely damaged by strong winds yesterday.
A strong wind variously described as a "circle breeze", "a hurricane" and a "miracle" struck two houses in Anna Catherina, West Coast Demerara yesterday leaving an 80-year-old grandmother and her family without a roof over their heads.
Basiran Khan called 'Ma' was alone at her son's Seaview Housing Co-op, Anna Catherina home when the strong wind literally blew the roof off over her head. The woman had been reclining in a hammock outside, when a few minutes after midday yesterday it started to rain. "Me go in and lay down and me hear thing knock around hard and when me get up me see all the thing damage up inside," the still visibly-shocked woman told Stabroek News. "Me get shock, me can't move or nothing", she stated.
Neighbours rushed over and rescued Khan from the bed where she was lying prone. "Me see de roof raise and then it start to fly," one neighbour said.
One of the rescuers relating what had happened said "she was trembling in the house and we hold she and carry she out".
Khan's son, Mohamed Intaz Khan, a bus conductor, told Stabroek News that he was working when he got the news. He said he immediately returned to his home to find it severely damaged. Apart from the roof being blown off, the shed was also destroyed while the walls and articles inside the home were damaged. His wife and three children also live in the home, but were not at home at the time.
"Right now me na know where to go," he stated adding that he intended to stay to protect the items inside the home. The telephone and electrical wires also burst and neighbours complained that they had to call the Guyana Power and Light (GPL) numerous times before a crew responded, though a Guyana Fire Service truck arrived promptly.
"Praise God nothing nah wrang with she," neighbours said of Khan. The family is appealing for assistance to help repair the home.
Neighbours said they worked very hard to maintain it and yesterday Khan and his family weren't sure where they would go to spend the night.
Meanwhile, the "circle breeze" also struck further in the village and destroyed a shed. Rookmin Persaud called 'Betti' said she had just gone inside her home when she heard a loud noise and "when me look up me see zinc flying in the air like a kite".
The shed and part of a fence were totally destroyed. When Stabroek News visited the home yesterday repairs to the fence had already commenced. A water tank and the water and electrical connections to the shed were also destroyed. The force with which the wind struck was evident as the posts holding up the roof of the shed were ripped up from the concrete. Persaud said her losses were about $100,000.
The wind, which residents said rose "like a smoke" from the ocean, also carried away a roof from a stall and clipped off the upper part of a tree. They could not recall anything like that ever happening in the area and some said it was "God's work" and a "miracle". They said that after the "circle-breeze" reached a field in neighbouring Leonora, it dissipated.
The phenomenon described by residents is usually classified by meteorologists as a water spout - a very small tornado-like cloud of mist and water accompanied by strong winds. Several of these have been seen along the coast in recent years. (Gaulbert Sutherland)
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