It was one freaky Friday in Diamond Housing Scheme, residents said. A high “circle” wind coming from the south then moving east sent unfinished buildings crumbling, roofs flying and fences crashing to the ground.
Residents, who live only streets apart from each other, gave varying accounts yesterday of the intense storm which hit the steadily growing community. Many described it as a “mini cyclone” that tore through the area leaving them shocked and afraid.
When Stabroek News revisited the community shortly after 10.30 am yesterday the damage caused by the storm was still evident and a number of persons were seen repairing broken fences and clearing away the remains of crumbled walls.
This newspaper combed a section of the area, from First to Seventh Street, randomly selecting residents to give accounts of the storm. Fourth Street, Fifth Street and cross streets before Sixth Street seemed to have sustained the most damage.
As reported in Saturday’s edition, an unfinished three-storey wooden house located in Fourth Street collapsed causing injuries to two construction workers. Residents had said that around eight men were working on the building. Bishop Philbert London is reportedly the owner of the structure.
The owner of Funtime Day Care located across the street from the collapsed building witnessed the incident but she was unavailable to speak yesterday. William Benjamin a construction worker who was fixing the daycare owner’s back fence, which was damaged by the storm, recounted what the woman had told him.
“She tell me that de day the rain set up and she was at back when this kinda circle breeze come … and tear down the fence,” Benjamin related. He added that the woman told him she ran to the front of the house where to her horror she saw the three-storey building falling apart.
Several construction workers were seen clearing away the remains of an unfinished concrete structure located in the vicinity of Fifth Street. One of the men said that they were working on the building when the storm came on Friday.
“… bout 3.15 time de rain start and lightning start to flash. It strike de steel on the building and de thing spark up,” the construction worker said. “Next thing I see a circle wind come from de south and lash off de zinc off we work shed. You naturally see how this breeze carry this zinc in a circle. De damage cost like three million.”
The house next door to Lot 1251, in the vicinity of Sixth Street, was also hit. Around a quarter of its roofing sheets could be seen resting on Lot 1251’s roof. Genevieve Lowe who resides there said that she was awakened by the lightning and thunder that day.
According to the young woman her three younger siblings who were with her at the time became terrified after the sheets began to crash one after the other on top of their house.
“My little sister started to scream…the connection to one of our water barrels was broken…the owner of the house next door resides in the United States and we don’t know how to contact him,” Lowe said.
“I was home all day Friday,” Shanta Biswah of Second Street said. “I remember the high breeze, the thunder, the lightning…the rain start shortly after 5pm. Just before the rain start there was a high wind which last for about 2 minutes,” the woman explained.
Biswah stressed several times that there was no rain before 5 pm. The woman lives in a small wooden house and said that it was not damaged during the stormy weather. “Only the pictures on my wall get blow off,” she told us.
Moving east, further into the scheme, David Dhaloram who lives two streets away from Biswah, gave the same description of the weather that Friday. “The rain set up around 4.30 pm and about half hour later we get a high wind that ain’t last very long then the rain start fall,” he explained.
Dhaloram further said that he was told by other residents that a “circle wind” moved from Sixth Street to Fourth Street. Winslow Smith, who lives in the street before Third Street, said that his neighbour, who he identified as Nadia, lost a few galvanised sheets during the stormy weather.
As Stabroek News moved closer to Fourth Street accounts of the weather on Friday began to change. According to Keith McArthur of Third Street said: “This big dark cloud come in a short space of time…there was lots of fork lightning and a lamp post was struck. I can see the three story house which collapsed from here and I didn’t hear it go down because the thunder drowned the sound out,” he explained.
McArthur said that the storm lasted from approximately 3.15 pm to 3.30 pm.
“We had a real freaky Friday buddy…I ain’t know is wa go on in here… I think we get hit by a weird mini-cyclone that affect different areas in varying degrees,” one man stated. “But I think that fourth to sixth street get the full effects of wind.”
