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Victim of giant tree crash feels threatened
Three days after a giant tree came crashing down on a North East La Penitence home, the owner, Sandra Garraway, is still traumatized. Garraway in an interview with Kaieteur News yesterday expressed fear of a recurrence of what she described as a near death experience. She said that she is lucky to be alive. 
“I don’t sleep anymore. The last time the tree fell right over my bedroom at one in the morning. The sound woke me up screaming so every time I hear a sound I wake up and check.”
Garraway explained that the other trees pose a threat to her safety and that of her family because they are old and frail and can fall at anytime.
“These trees are more than 80 years old and most of them are leaning. The roots of some are showing because the soil can’t hold them. It is too swampy.” Garraway said.
The woman said that she made calls to the Mayor and City Council to have the trees removed but nothing was done.
After the recent incident the woman said that workers from the city council came and removed the tree from her yard but left the others, even though she asked them to remove them. She said that the workers told her that they were instructed to only remove the fallen tree from her yard.
Garraway stated that an official from city council and team came to survey the property and went away.
“They just came and looked around they didn’t tell me anything. People just keep coming but nothing is being done.”
Garraway claimed that someone from the Guyana Relief Council paid her a visit and saw the damage done to the property.
The woman said that the estimated cost of the damage done to her home is in excess of $400,000. She said that the fallen tree damaged her roof, fence, washing machine, windows and other equipment.
That tree damaged my fence I paid $20,000 to have my fence fixed. Who is going to repay me? I need to be compensated.”
However the woman said that her main concern is the safety of her family. She noted that last year October another tree fell on a house in the area and killed a child while injuring both parents. Garraway said that another woman’s entire kitchen was destroyed due to a fallen tree and there were other similar incidents.
She said that she is pleading with the relevant authorities to act swiftly and sever the decaying trees.
“Right now I hoarse from the other night when I woke up shaking and screaming, I want to know whether someone else have to die first before something is done. We paying taxes and we need these trees to be immediately removed.”
One of Garraway’s neighbours told this paper that two months ago two trees fell and one damaged her roof. The neighbour said that the incident caused her to become afraid but she never made a complaint.
“I just wait until my brother-in- law come home and he cut the tree, because this is not the first time, auntie does call them all the time to come and cut down the trees but nobody don’t ever come.”
Meanwhile in a telephone interview, Mayor Hamilton Green told Kaieteur News that he had been meeting with his staff to have the problem rectified. Green said that the council and the Ministry of Works would have collaborated to have the area cleared by yesterday afternoon. However this was not done, because Garraway who was on the lookout for the team, said that they were a no show.
This was approximately around 5 pm. When another call was made to the Mayor, he then stated that he is unclear when the work will start but that the council is in the process of mobilizing the equipment to have the job done.
A giant tree came crashing into Garraway’s home on Wednesday last and damaged sections of her home.
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