Giant tree crashes down on sleeping family’s home

Jun 27, 2012 News

– City Council ignored pleas to cut down tree

Sandra Garraway and her family are considering themselves lucky to be alive after a massive palm tree came crashing down on their Lot 483 North East La Penitence home early yesterday, even as they slept.

Ms. Garraway points to one of the shattered windows.

The tree, which was located on a dam at the southern side of the home, shattered windows, a fence, a section of the roof. It also crushed a washing machine that was outdoors and destroyed a kitchenette.
No one was hurt, but the family has been left traumatised. There are several other giant and rotting palm trees on the same dam, and Ms. Garraway is fearful that the family would not be so lucky the next time one falls.
Ms. Garraway recalled that around 01:00 hr she was awakened by a ‘crashing sound.’
At first, she believed that the family was under attack.
“It sound like gunshots. We start scream and by the time we scream we hear like an earthquake.” That was the sound of the tree sliding from the roof to the ground.
“When we come outside we see the house mash up.”
After assessing the damage, Ms. Garraway hired a crew to saw off a portion of the tree that was in her yard and haul it and other debris away. That cost her $20,000.
The family is incensed at City Hall, since they claimed that they have been pleading with officials there since last year to cut the rotting tree down.
When heavy breeze blows, the tree would be rocking,” Ms. Garraway’s husband, Leyland O’Neil, said.
Kaieteur News was told that a City engineer had visited the home and had promised to use an excavator to bring the tree down. He never returned.
“It seems like somebody got to die (before City Hall acts),” Ms. Garraway said.
“We missed death. I thank God we still alive to tell this story.” She said that City Hall staffers visited the premises and promised to get rid of the other trees threatening the home. However, Ms Garraway is not optimistic that this will be done.
Last year, five-year-old Tammica Hackett, who lived just a few houses away from Ms. Garraway, was killed after a palm tree from the same dam fell on her home as she slept.