WHILE many people are busy preparing their homes to celebrate Christmas Day on Sunday, many residents and businessmen in Bamboo Village, Kelly Village and parts of St Helena are still struggling to recover from the devastating floods in November.
Most said they would be spending their Christmas weekend trying to salvage whatever personal items they can. Several residents told Newsday on Thursday that they remain traumatised as their homes are still in disarray after the floods. Many have been unable to replaced water-damaged furniture and other household items.
Virginia Ramkissoon, 65, wept while speaking with Newsday at her Jaffar Street, Bamboo home on Thursday. The walls inside her humble house still bear brown stains from where flood water levels rose.
“I not seeing a Christmas this year. Every day I does cry as I still can't ketch mehself," she said.
"I lost clothes, all my mother nice things which she left me when she died, bed, mattress, furniture...things floated away in the floods. I need help!
“They came around and bring mattresses to each home and there are people who didn’t get flooded out but got mattresses too. That is not fair."
Madras Road, St Helena resident Avianne Lewis said she hopes to bring a little Christmas cheer to her children even after they lost clothes and school books in the flood.
“My baby lost his clothes and my daughter and son lost their school books. The water was so high I lost plenty of things which I haven't as yet accounted for. I lost my washing machine, my fridge got damaged and I lost my mattresses," Lewis said.
She recalled the trauma of being marooned in her home for over two days while waiting for the water to subside.
At the back of a small Christmas tree, this reporter noticed stains on the walls left by the brown flood waters.
“I had to put it up (the Christmas tree) for the little one. My children have to at least see something about Christmas. I know this year, things won't be so bright for us, but I have to try to bring some cheer for my children."
Sitting on a couch nearby, Lewis' mother-in-law shouted, "everything gone through!"
In Kelly Village, Gaindee Roopnarine said most of the cleaning up was done but Christmas this year would be a gloomy one.
"We still waiting for people from the corporation to come and fix the sewer system. The flooding caused the sewer to overflow and up to now we still getting the smell. They keep saying they would come, but...nothing yet."
In Bamboo #2, workers of Bobby's Motor Supplies say they still have a long way to go before the business can resume operations.
[caption id="attachment_992337" align="alignnone" width="1024"] WHAT A MESS: Workers of Bobby's Motor Supplies in Bamboo #2 sift through mounds of wet bags and boxes in the warehouse on Thursday, a month after the building was flooded out. - Photo by Angelo Marcelle[/caption]
The building manager who only have his name as Kaleem, predicted it would take another two months before the business is cleaned up and can reopen.
He said that the ow
