Teenager Patrice Seerattan and her family spent yesterday attending to repairs on their home at Jerningham Junction, Cunupia. The Seerattans’ home was one of 15 partially damaged when a funnel cloud tore through the community on Friday before wreaking havoc in other parts of Central Trinidad. Poorandaye Seerattan, 49, the matriarch of the household, spent the morning cooking a meal of curried chicken and rice, minus the dhal side dish, in a kitchen covered by a yellow tarpaulin. The family's home was soaked on Friday and most of their food items went bad. The family spent Saturday night without electricity and the younger Seerattan, 17, noted yesterday that they were uneasy over the weekend as there were sporadic showers on Friday and Saturday after the funnel cloud did the initial damage.
The younger Seerattan said the family was grateful for all the help they received from community members and government officials. She said neighbours assisted them in partially repairing their roof. The Ministry of the People and Social Development, Seerattan said, gave them a temporary food card which they used to purchase groceries and kerosene for the weekend. The family also got tarpaulins and two mattresses from the ODPM. Chairman of the National Commission for Self Help (NCSH), Surujdeo Mangaroo, visited the affected communities yesterday. He said field officers had made assessments on Saturday and 14 applications were being processed by NCSH staff. He said grants of up to $15,000 would be given out to affected residents by tomorrow. Mangaroo said since October some $40 million in grants had been distributed by the NCSH. He said from this figure, $6 million had gone to disaster victims.