Senior Multimedia Reporter
radhica.sookraj@guardian.co.tt
Just eight months after moving into their new home, a Rousillac family is living in fear as a landslip has caused part of their yard to collapse leaving the house on the edge of a precipice.
With heavy rains worsening the slippage, homeowner Nigel Mahabir, of Lalbeharry Trace Extension, Grant Road, is calling on the authorities for help to save his home. His mango tree, once laden with fruit, is now teetering downward and his coconut trees and other plants are also leaning.
Mahabir blamed a leaking Water and Sewerage Authority (WASA) line for the landslip.
“When we first came here, everything was good. There was no slippage but when the line started to leak, the land began to cave,” he said.
“Within two weeks, we observed the land dropping. It reached this depth. When we woke up that Saturday morning, there was knee-high water here. The water was pooling, and I saw water gushing from under the surface. I contacted the councillor and WASA as well. They came and repaired the leak around noon on Saturday. Then on Monday night around 9.30, I saw water gushing again and the land started to drop more and more.”
Mahabir said WASA has not responded to his calls.
“I was given a WASA official’s number directly, but he is not answering anymore,” he said.
Mahabir started building the house in 2018.
He explained: “I tried to stay away from mortgages and built the house with cash, bit by bit. In December 2023, it was finished, and we finally moved in. We barely enjoyed it. This was a dream home for the kids. To see this happen within two weeks—it is distressing.”
He appealed to WASA to accept responsibility for the landslip.
“This land is my wife’s heirloom. Her grandparents have owned it for over 70 years. There was no issue with land slippage until now,” he said.
Asked whether the slippages started with the construction of the new highway to Point Fortin, Mahabir said, “It may have contributed but in this area, I would say it is because of the WASA line. The leak saturated the soil causing it to shift.”
He could not say what was causing slippages in other areas, including a major landslip at his neighbour’s home. He noted that during the dry season, his neighbours were not getting water, but he did not realise it was due to a leak.
Mahabir is now considering legal action.
Acting Chief Executive Officer of WASA Kelvin Romain, said the matter would be thoroughly investigated.
“Mr Mahabir claims that a WASA leak compromised the integrity of his home. We will definitely investigate thoroughly, but I would like to point out that we have also suffered infrastructural damage as a result of landslips,” Romain said.
“I understand that there were civil works in the area that caused some movement of the lands around his property. Our pipeline infrastructure has tolerance and flexibility but if compromised it will shift and result in leakage due to land slippage.”