Old trees a worry for Dunlow Lane residents

Residents of the community where a tree fell on a house during the gusts caused by Tropical Storm Bret said they had been concerned about it falling for some time.

It was also reported that at least one other tree is in danger of falling.

It was just after 8:30 a.m. that a large tree fell and extensively damaged a wooden house in Dunlow Lane, St Michael.

Barbados TODAY understands that no one was seriously injured when the tree fell, but one man did receive some minor cuts and sought attention from a private doctor.

When a team from Barbados TODAY visited the area, resident Steven Collymore said that despite the tree being a subject of great concern for neighbours over the years, no action had ever been taken.

“This tree was here from before I born; it’s an old tree. Apparently the owners did not take [the danger] seriously, they kept delaying till eventually [this] is the climax looking at you. This is no haphazard nothing, this is lazy [or] whatever word you want to put there. This is nothing new; this was going on ever since,” he complained.

Collymore also stated that on numerous occasions, residents had contacted authorities to have the tree dealt with, given their fears that it could fall at any moment in the highly trafficked area. 

However, he said, the community’s pleas fell on deaf ears.

Another neighbour, who asked to remain anonymous, stated that the entire wall on that area of the community needed to be fixed or replaced, since several other trees on the same section of the property were old and leaning heavily on the aged wall.

“This [other] one is going to drop down just now and break up everything. All the wall is leaning. A woman say she is 63 and she came and find this tree, so you can imagine this wall was here long time,” she said. (SB)