Hours before Christmas Day, New Grant resident Hayden Grant returned home from work to find his house in pieces.
Grant, 38, is now sleeping in his car, separated from his family and struggling to make ends meet.
Grant built his home in 2009 at Nagee Road, Sixth Company, New Grant and had been living there with his wife Alisha Aboslam and 15-year-old nephew.
Grant explained that a few days before the tragedy they were having heavy rainfall and he saw signs that the land was shifting.
“The rain was falling right through and I notice some cracks in the land so I went to Disaster people first when I saw the set of cracks. I was thinking it was drainage.”
He said a team from the the Disaster Management Unit at the Princes Town Regional Corporation did a site visit and took photos and information.
He said he worked Christmas Eve and when he returned home sometime after 10 pm he saw that his house had collapsed.
While he is thankful that neither his wife nor nephew was home, Grant lamented, “You know it heartbreaking. Christmas Eve Day is when everybody baking they ham, preparing for Christmas Day, Christmas season and to come home and meet this, it hard.”
Pointing on the plastic grab on his wardrobe buried under the rubble, he said just before Christmas he bought new furniture, including a television set.
Everything got damaged when his two bedroom wooden and concrete home crumbled.
Grant has had many sleepless nights since the incident.
While his wife and nephew were staying by relatives, he sleeps most nights in his car.
“Since that I sleeping now and then by my sister or I sleep in my car. Things real tough,” said Grant.
Noting that last year he got a chest infection and spent three months in hospital, Grant said he has not fully recovered.
While he has been working as hard as he could, Grant said work is low and he does not have the finances to rebuild.
He said, “If I could get assistance with material I could do my labour for myself. The Government supposed to have things in place for things like these because this is a disaster. I calling out to them for whatever they could assist with.”
He said the Disaster Management Unit gave him a letter to take to the Ministry of Social Development.
He estimated his losses to be over $100,000.
Anyone interested in assisting Grant could contact him at 335-8180.
Moruga/Tableland MP Michelle Benjamin visited Grant a few days ago and has made a public appeal over Facebook for assistance on his behalf.
Noting that his house was destroyed by an active landslide, she said, “Let’s support this family during this challenging time.”