RESIDENTS of Section ‘D’ Bath Settlement Village West Coast Berbice, whose homes were damaged by a freak storm on Monday last and who had been unable to effect repairs since then have been given hope for a speedy resumption to normal life following a visit by Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo to the village Friday.
The PM was accompanied by Head of the Civil Defence Commission Col Chabilall Ramsaroop and other senior officials of the Office of the Prime Minister. They were met by APNU MP Miss Jennifer Wade and officials of the Regional Democratic Council of Region Five who accompanied them while they spoke with several residents who had been affected during a walk about in the affected section of the village and gave assurances of help.
Some of the affected residents had fixed their own homes using their own financial resources and a combination of paid labour and community self-help. The focus on Friday was on those who had been unable to raise the finances to get their lives back on a normal track. These included home alone widower Ms. Sheila Harrichan, whose home was flattened. She will get help.

Colonel Ramsaroop disclosed that the Private Sector Commission had offered to donate materials for the rebuilding and restructuring of the two-bedroom home. A private contractor from West Berbice had volunteered free labour and work on the demolition of the damaged house has begun.
Regional Executive Officer Morrison said that if all goes as planned, Ms Harrichan who has been stopping at neighbours since the disaster, should be back under her own roof within seventy two hours. The regional administration of Region Five Council also committed to provide several zinc sheets to the members of the Matalama family who had lost their entire roof during the storm and had been unable to replace same since then. During the visit those in the walkabout included MP Miss Jennifer Wade, Regional Executive Officer Ovid Morrison, AFC Councillor Abel Setaram, Regional Engineer Dhanpaul Sukha and other senior staffers of the Region.

The prime minister also assisted in distributing blankets and other sleeping materials to those who had to date been unable to recover from the effects of the storm. Six houses were partially damaged and another one flattened at Bath Settlement, West Coast Berbice, when the storm ripped through a section of the village late Monday afternoon.
A life-long resident of Bath Settlement said that the slanting rain, loud thunder and flashing sheets of lightning were the worst he had ever experienced. “Everything turn black and white. We couldn’t see anything for about 15 to 30 minutes,” he said.