By Susan Mohammed

Copyright trinidadexpress

THE home of retired Claxton Bay fisherman Kenny Koat, where he had lived for more than 25 years, collapsed on Friday night following heavy rainfall and strong winds.

For hours on Sunday, Koat, 55, tried to salvage lumber from the collapsed structure where his home once stood on Mathura Avenue, on Sookoo Trace in Claxton Bay.

“As soon as I could get any help to get back a place to sleep, I would be thankful,” said Koat to the Express yesterday, as he sifted through the broken floorboards and rubble searching for good lumber and valuables.

Luckily, on Friday night, Koat was not in the two-bedroom wooden structure when it collapsed around 8 p.m.

One of his nieces, Victoria Harry, who resides next door, said she was at a neighbouring house when she heard a ‘boom’. She walked over to see that her uncle’s house had crumbled and his furniture reduced to rubble.

“At first, when I heard the ‘boom’ I thought maybe it was just a few pieces of the galvanise. But when I saw it I got really scared because I thought he was inside there, but thankfully he wasn’t. Earlier that day, there was rain and a bit windy,” said Harry.

Koat said he lost everything.

“The roof fell and everything got mashed up. The mattress got wet and furniture and everything broke up. Everything gone. I didn’t even have any money in the first place to say I lost money in there,” he said.

On Saturday night, he slept on a couch at the home of a neighbouring relative.

“It was a hard night. Bandit passing and taking people gas tank and things,” he said.

Koat, who is not married nor has any children, resided alone in the wooden two-bedroom structure, where he spent most of his days in his retirement due to an injury, recent surgery and failing health with arthritis.

He is seeking materials to rebuild his home on the land where other relatives reside nearby.

“I need help to get back a house. I don’t have anything to start building again. I had worked as a fisherman for about 15 years but I cannot work again because of my health. I stopped working a few months ago because I got injured, had surgery for kidney stones, and have arthritis. I cannot work hard again,” said Koat.

With no steady source of income, life has been difficult for the retiree, who said he does not receive a social welfare grant and relies on odd jobs or the goodness of others to get by.

“I am worried about where I will be staying. The whole night I cannot sleep,” said Koat.

His niece also issued a public appeal for assistance to help her uncle rebuild his home, noting that he has been sleeping on a couch since the night of the collapse.

“He is unemployed and has been struggling for a while, just making a hustle to make ends meet. Any sort of help he can get—wood or bricks—we would be grateful. He just needs a home,” she said.

The Express reached out to Minister of the People, Social Development and Family Services (MPSDFS) Vandana Mohit via WhatsApp yesterday who said that officers of her ministry would intervene on Koat’s case immediately.

“The CTTRC (Couva/ Tabaquite/ Talparo) DMU (Disaster Management Unit) is going to assess this case now and they will let MPSDFS know when they upload the assessment. NSDP (National Social Development Programme) will engage the family via phone today (yesterday). We will visit tomorrow (today) and provide food support,” stated Mohit.