Another Linden family displaced following freak storm

– as tree crashes into home

Another Retrieve, Linden, Region 10 (Upper Demerara-Berbice) family have lost their home, following a freak storm which ripped through the community on Tuesday afternoon. The Hopkinsons’ were displaced after a large cashew tree – located at the front of their home – was uprooted, which caused it to fall, demolishing the two-storey structure. The Hopkinsons’ are the second Retrieve, Linden family to lose their home due to stormy weather in recent months. Both homes were constructed using aluminium materials. At the time disaster struck, 75-year-old Leslie Hopkinson said he was at home with his 35-year-old daughter, Desiree Hopkinson, at their Lot 493 Moraballi Street home. His wife, Chandra Hopkinson, explained that she was at a nearby shop at the time but recalled that her husband was in the kitchen at the time of the incident.

“I saw a little piece of the zinc blow away. So I left to go to my daughter who was in her bedroom to get a piece of plastic to cover the stove… both of us then tried to cover the stove… then I spot the tree coming into the house,” Leslie Hopkinson told this publication.
The patriarch of the home said impulsively, he pulled his daughter to safety from the fallen tree, but they were both knocked to the floor by the heavy winds. A kitchen cabinet which contained glass ware was broken upon the tree’s impact.
As a result, Hopkinson sustained minor cuts and bruises to both legs while his daughter sustained injuries to her head which required five stitches. She was treated at the Linden Hospital Complex.
“This thing ripped through the kitchen, right to the front of the house. There was hardly any zinc left back to the top of the house… The only things left standing are the two bedrooms, and not even completely because the roof is missing zinc sheets,” he told Guyana Times. He further explained that neighbours then came to the family’s aid following the storm, to which they were very grateful. When this newspaper visited the house on Wednesday, the Hopkinsons’ with the help of other residents, were in the process of relocating their household items over to a neighbour’s house. The family is presently staying with the neighbour. Hopkinson said assistance has not been forthcoming from regional officials but family members and neighbours have since offed tangible assistance.
Hopkinson pointed out that the family’s current situation is heart rendering, given the fact that they would have only recently conducted repairs to the front of the home. Nevertheless, he said the family remains optimistic.
The family noted that while officials came and took pictures of the home, no official offer of assistance was extended. Back in June of this year, the home of the DeClou family of 274 Oronoque Drive, Retrieve, was completely destroyed by a freak storm. The entire roof of that home was blown off, while several parts of its interior were completely damaged. Tuesday’s storm wreaked havoc throughout the community, as it uprooted several trees and caused damages to the roofs of public buildings and homes. Electricity and communication services were also disrupted.
Linden Mayor Carwyn Holland on Tuesday noted that he will be seeking to secure emergency funding as a means of assisting residents in the community who have suffered as a result of the storm and soil erosion.