The owners of a rice mill at Number 19 Village Corentyne, Berbice suffered tremendous losses on Monday when the roof collapsed during heavy winds around 11.10 am.
Devitree Jalaludin, 29, said the high winds lasted about 15 minutes and within that time the zinc sheets from a shed and a few from her house were blown off while an abandoned house in the area fell down. She said all that was still left standing of the rice mill was the equipment, which she believes might also be damaged from the rain. The woman said she was in the house with her grandfather and one of her five children when the heavy wind started blowing. “Within a second the zinc from the rice mill started flying off and everything crashed down,” she said.
Just after that, she said, the zinc sheets from the shed started flying in all directions. “Suddenly the house started shaking heavily and I thought it would lift off the posts,” she said. “But luckily only a few zinc sheets from the extended part of the house came off so that did not affect us much.”
Jalaludin said she is thankful that no one was hurt. She added that the zinc sheets from the house and the shed were to be replaced yesterday, as the heavy rain continued all day Monday.
As for the rice mill, she said that would take a lot of work.
She said a lot of live wires were scattered on the ground after the incident and she called the Guyana Power & Light Inc. They arrived shortly after and removed them.
