THE City Engineer’s Department of the Georgetown Municipality is now moving to “take down” some of the trees that are deemed a threat to life and limb. This was disclosed yesterday, by Public Relations Officer, Royston King after two more huge ones fell, in heavy winds, over the past two days.
Speaking to the Guyana Chronicle, at his City Hall office, he said the trees are very old and had been in existence for decades and it is for that reason the Council has become very concerned over the state of some and will cut them down.
Early yesterday morning, a ‘Flamboyant’ fell across the road at Manget Place and Brickdam, snapping the electric power lines and resulting in an outage in the area after the current was disconnected by Guyana Power & Light (GPL).
On Sunday, another, on Vlissengen Road, broke into pieces and scattered across the junction with Regent Road, affecting, to some extent, vehicles moving along the former street.
Only recently, Councillor Ranwell Jordan challenged the City Council, as a whole, to decide on cutting down all the trees in the capital that could pose a threat to life and property.
He had issued the challenge at the fortnightly statutory meeting in view of the severe damage that was caused to a house in East Ruimveldt.
Jordan pointed out that a number of other trees in that area are in bad shape and could fall at any time. In the most recent case, that caused 73-year-old Shieldston Roberts to suffer losses.
Councillor Leslie Sobers agreed that “all the trees looking bad” must be cut down and emphasised the importance of persons illegally squatting to remove from those areas so as to avoid such calamities.
Roberts, of Kiskadee Drive, East La Penitence, was the lone occupant of the building onto which the tree crashed.
When this newspaper visited the scene on Monday, the tree trunk had already been cut into pieces and removed from the location by municipal workers.
According to Roberts, the damage caused would entail hundreds of thousands of dollars in repairs and tens of thousands of dollars for replacement of his personal household effects.
Last October five-year-old Tamicia Hackett, who was sleeping in her bed around midnight, was pinned and crushed to death when an Ite Palm tree, brought down by strong winds, collapsed on the Freeman Street home, also in East La Penitence, where she lived.
Perturbed relatives and other residents in the neighbourhood recalled that those trees, towering over buildings, have always posed a problem for them and recounted at least four incidents in which persons were injured or had their houses destroyed.
Residents said they have, repeatedly, begged the City Council to send workers to help them fell the trees which continue to pose a serious threat to their properties, lives and limbs.