First-response charity finds ‘significant housing damage’

The emergency first-responder charity,  the Roving Response Team said Monday it is likely to be out in the field for at least another week and a half in light of the “significant” trail of damage left behind by Hurricane Elsa.

According to President and Operation Officer of the Roving Response Team Jefferson Bovell, the extent of the damage to housing is worrying and there are clear lessons the country should heed from the impact of Elsa, a Category one system.

He told Barbados TODAY: “The significant amount of houses that have roof damage and structural damage, that one was alarming. We really have a significant amount of houses with roof damage and structural damage. It is the worst that we have ever seen. Even though it was a category one…the significant amount of damage was surprising.”

“I see ourselves in the field assisting probably for another week, another week and a half mostly with roofs, helping persons so that they would be able to move back into their homes – if they have partial blow-offs or water damage that is our main focus right now.”

Members of the Roving Response Team were deployed to Bush Hall, St Michael late Monday to cover two roofless houses while other personnel were in the field continuing damage assessments.

The preliminary damage assessments from the Department of Emergency Management indicated there were 1,908 homes damaged, including 1,145 with roof damage. Some 89 houses collapsed and house damage beyond roofs totalled 202.

Bovell says the construction of houses on the island is a matter for urgent attention.

“The construction of some of these houses and the method some contractors used to build roofs that need to be looked at,” he said.

He further proposed that personnel from District Emergency Organisations should flag worrying housing conditions for authorities to address to help mitigate losses in times of disaster.

He said: “We have got to go into the districts and identify vulnerable houses – to see whether the structure of these houses can withstand a hurricane or so on.”

The team of 25 first responders which hit the roads as early as Friday evening when the all-clear was issued said the number of fallen trees was a major hindrance to their work.

Bovell suggested there is clearly a need for house owners, not just authorities, to pay closer attention to the growth and location of trees.

He said: “From what I am seeing, we have to do a lot more tree trimming, not only the Government, but some houseowners who have trees that are allowed to grow too tall and then hang over and go into powerlines and then that is how the problems come… so tree trimming needs a lot more attention.”
(sandydeane@barbadostoday.bb)