Roofs blown off in freak storm at Wismar

Aug 18, 2017 News

By Enid Joaquin
A freak storm Wednesday afternoon swept through the Wismar Housing Scheme and

Some of the affected homes and residents retrieving zinc sheets following the freak storm at Wismar on Wednesday.

neighboring communities, leaving in its wake several houses without roofs, broken utility poles, uprooted trees and several residents counting their losses.
Workers of the Linden Utility Services Cooperative Society Limited (LUSCSL) had their work cut out Wednesday night to restore power to several areas that were plunged into darkness. They continued working feverishly yesterday, in their efforts to bring the situation to normalcy, but there were intermittent power outages throughout the day.
According to residents it was the worst storm to hit Wismar. A visit yesterday by Regional Vice Chairman Elroy Adolph, to those affected, saw most persons busy drying out their homes and putting out carpets, chairs and other household amenities to dry.
Adolph was accompanied by Councillors Charles Sampson and Gordon Callender.
Several residents used the opportunity to highlight their plight, to both the councilors and this publication.
One woman, who preferred to remain anonymous, was in the process of moving out.
She related that at the time the storm hit, she was not at home, but arrived later to see her apartment roofless and her chairs and carpets soaked.
The sight was enough to make her decide to remove immediately.
“I was going to move out next week, because I’m building my house in Andyville, but it is not yet complete…. but I’m moving, because at least it is better than here.”
Although some residents of other communities suffered damage to their roofs, those in the Wismar Housing Scheme seemed to have fared the worst.
On one apartment block, zinc sheets had been blown off from at least four roofs.
Some residents said that they worked most of the night trying to retrieve their zinc sheets and repair the damage, but some were not so fortunate, as they could not find theirs.
Quite a few had to resort to sleeping on the floor, as their mattresses were soaked.
Others said they slept in their chairs.
Karen McDonald, who owns a business, and whose entire roof had blown off, pointed out
“I came home and cleaned up – I did a general, then just as I finish and I go to pun on the fan, I see the roof just mek so and flip up…‘voop’ and it gone. So I run downstairs and called a friend who was here and tell them come quick quick, come help, and they help me to put some clothes in the other room.”
McDonald kept giving praise to God as no one was injured. Others affected include hairdresser Celana Johnson – the entire roof of her salon was ‘lifted of’ according to her mother.
The roof landed several feet away.
Johnson’s mother said that she was just thankful that no one was hurt as after the roof was dislodged, electrical wires were left dangling.
She noted that her daughter would have suffered significant damage to her hair dressing equipment.
Gordon Callender, who resides in the scheme and so had a firsthand experience of what happened, said that he called Attorney General Basil Williams, who made contact with the Civil Defence Commission, relaying what had transpired.
Meanwhile, the Regional Vice Chairman commended residents for the spirit of cooperation displayed, as each tried to help the other. Adolph said that there is not much can be done from the level of the Region
“We are asking the CDC and some of the agencies in Georgetown, to render whatever assistance that they could.
Wednesday’s freak storm is reminiscent of one that recently swept through the Retrieve area in Mackenzie, Linden, and also demolished quite a few roofs and damaged personal effects.

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