Landslide threat to 2 homes

STACY MOORE

TWO PLAISANCE Park families are now fearful their homes may collapse because of a landslide.

The landslide occurred along Christian Avenue, Plaisance Park, Claxton Bay yesterday. Residents claim the landslide was caused by a ruptured underground Petrotrin pipeline which runs behind their their homes. The pipeline was installed by the State oil company more than ten years ago.

However a few months ago the pipeline began to leak causing gallons of water to seep into the residents premises.

Alana Quamina, 40, said she and her four daughters are worried. “It is not a nice feeling to be living at your home and knowing that any moment your house could cave in with you and your children, this is really a scary feeling,” she said.

Quamina said the rainfall over the past few days added to their troubles as she awoke yesterday to see piles of mud in her front yard.

“I am so frustrated and I am fed up and tired of complaining to Petrotrin about this, I don’t know who or where else to turn for help,” she said. “Is Petrotrin waiting on our houses to cave in, then to do something about the situation?”

Lisa Cooper, a mother of three, also voiced her frustration, saying there are now cracks all over her house.

“Anytime now this house could collapse and we have nowhere else to go. This is not something we purposefully did. This is a situation where it is negligence on behalf of Petrotrin. We need immediate assistance and also to be compensated for the damage done to our properties. This is ridiculous,” she said.

Cooper said she was told the leaking pipe is used to cool down the Pointe-a-Pierre refinery, so shutting it down would lead to serious problems. “Yes I understand that but at the other end, our homes have been damaged. We need answers from Petrotrin now before it is too late and our homes cave in,”she said. Calls to Petrotrin officials for a response went unanswered yesterday.