Seventy-six-year-old Lavadne Edwards-Harris and her 97-year-old mother Clarine Edwards, usually spend much time in the living room of their Dunscombe, St Thomas home watching television.
Residents assisting 97-year-old mother Clarine Edwards (centre) from her house.
Member of Parliament for St Thomas Cynthia Forde (right) speaking to residents at Dunscombe, St Thomas where a tractor fell off a trailer and crashed into the living room of the home of two elderly women this morning. Sitting in the wheelchair is 76-year-old Lavadne Edwards-Harris who is one of the occupants of the house, which was damaged.
However, Edwards-Harris is thanking God that they were not in that part of the house around 11 a.m. today when a tractor fell off a trailer and plunged into their living room, leaving both of them shaken.
The scene at Dunscombe St Thomas where a tractor crashed into a house after it fell off a trailer truck.
“We were in the kitchen when we heard this loud noise and then my mother started screaming saying that the house gone,” Edwards-Harris said as she recalled the incident, which she pointed out, could have turned out to be worse.
The daughter who is wheelchair-bound told Barbados TODAY that while most of the front section of the house was destroyed, a thorough assessment still needed to be done to evaluate any damages to the contents.
While acknowledging that she and her mother were thankful to be alive, Edwards-Harris expressed gratitude to all those who rushed to their assistance, including young men from the area who helped them out of the house.
“When I look around I see so much people from all up the road and all down Spring Farm come to our assistance. As the driver get out, he come straight to the house and find out if anything happen and I tell him that we ain’t get hurt and he said that is all he wants to know. But the driver was very responsive,” she said.
They will be staying at a relative until their house is repaired,” she said.
One male resident from the area told Barbados TOAY that he was convinced he was watching a scene from a movie when he stood on his gallery and watched the tractor fall off the trailer and crashed into the house. The resident, who did not give his name said he started to shouting for the two residents as he quickly ran to their home, hoping that nobody was seriously injured.
“I run fast because I know the women does be watching TV in that room. I am just happy that everybody okay, the house could always get repaired, but you can’t replace a life,” the resident said.
Another resident, Joyann Grecia-Elliss, said she had just finished her breakfast when she heard the loud noise which was followed by her husband informing her that the tractor had crashed into the elderly folks’ house.
“I run and I pushed the door and asked them if they were okay and I run and comforted them because they were crying. Some more nbeighbours came and we called the doctor because they were really shaken up,” Grecia Elliss said.
Meanwhile, Member of Parliament Cynthia Forde who responded to the scene told the media that she was concerned that this was the second time in the space of less than a year that an incident of this kind happened in the area.
Forde said it was on July 12, 2018 when a church on that stretch was damaged by a tractor. She said the church is yet to be repaired and the building now has structural issues.
“Now a bigger tractor has destroyed that house. The whole structure is shaken. With that kind of impact it has really had a terrible repercussion in the village. The old woman is terribly shaken, her daughter even moreso” Forde said.
The Member of Parliament made an appeal to motorists and pedestrians travelling in the area to use the road carefully.
“The residents are really upset at what has happened here, and I pray to God that nobody loses his or her life as a result of the bad driving,” Forde added.
The truck registered M2559 is owned by Rayside Constructuction. It was driven by 56-year-old David Williams of Dunscombe Hill, St Thomas.
anestahenry@barbadostoday.bb
