CITY Hall has moved to take corrective action in an effort to bring some measure of relief to the 73-year-old widower discommoded and otherwise suffering losses after a huge palm tree fell on his house at Kiskadee Drive, East La Penitence last Sunday. The crash destroyed the building and damaged household effects and, when this newspaper visited Mr. Shieldston Roberts on Monday afternoon, the interior of his home was exposed.
No security was in place since concrete walls were shattered and a good many zinc sheets ripped off the roof.
On that occasion, Roberts lamented that his major concern was for safety as he works and is away from home much of the time. In addition, he had to move out of his bedroom which cannot now be occupied.
Contacted yesterday, Acting Deputy Mayor, Mrs. Particia Chase-Greene, who visited the scene shortly after the disaster, assured that the City Council had not turned a blind eye to the septuagenarian’s plight.
She said the City Engineer’s Department has already commenced working on the preparation of an estimate for the repairs, with a view to starting the job as soon as possible.
In the meantime, a piece of tarpaulin has been placed over the roof to offer protection against the elements.
Roberts said he had reported the calamity to his landlady who lives abroad but was in the country for the Christmas holidays, during which she effected maintenance works to the place, including the installation of new guttering.