Monrovia-It was a night to remember for some neighbors to the office of the President on Capitol Hill, when heavy storm Wednesday night left them homeless.
They stood bewildered on Thursday morning, not knowing where to start the day, as their personal belongings were left exposed to the heavy downpour of rain after the wind took away the roofs of their houses.
Evelyn Constance, a 48-year old mother of four children could hardly express herself when she spoke with FrontPageAfrica.
She says by 9:30 pm local time the storm started and it blew away the roofs of many houses in a community right next door to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Capitol Hill.
“Now, we are homeless, everything in our in our houses got damaged from the rain after the storm and the breeze was heavy, it is the first time happening and more than fifteen houses got affected”, says Evelyn.
Appearing confused Evelyn says, she has nowhere to look and is calling on well-meaning Liberians and the government to offer help.
Says Evelyn “I want to appeal to all well-meaning Liberians to come to our aid because right now everything damaged. I think you can see for yourselves all the zinc, the roof open and all the mattresses and everything wet. Last night we never slept we had a sleepless night because we been dipping water the whole night”.
She and others early Thursday morning held placards to claim the attention President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf who was on her way to work, but their effort did not yield results as she says the President drove without stopping to talk to them.
“Everything spoil. Right now I don’t know what to do. As God could have it, nobody got injured. I went on the road to appeal and we carried placards to meet with the president. We stood on the road because we heard the president was coming, at least for the president to come to our aid but she did not stop”, she laments.
Requested to leave
Evelynn says she took her sorrow to the office of the President but security officers told her to leave when the Liberian leader was enroute to work.
“I went there to give our complaints at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and they told me to wait because I was really crying and was soaking wet but later on when they heard the siren coming they told me to leave from the place and come to the house and wait so I asked them how can I wait when right now I am confused”, she explains.
Agnes Jeroue, a 44-year old mother of 5- a food seller also says nearly all belongings will have to be thrown away because they got destroyed by the water.
“I have five living children with my husband and my one grandson. The little boy ran I never knew where to put him but I just tell God thank you that nobody died from it and right now we are asking our president and we are asking people to come to our aid because everything were soaked with water”, she says.
Agnes says she does not know where to turn as she had just returned home from exile.
Says Agnes “I spent almost twenty-two years in exile my children and myself just coming and we renting. We came to Liberia since three years and this thing happened to us, so everything, our belonging, our mattresses, our cloths, all damaged, I don’t even know where to turn this morning”.
Another victim, Maverlyne Boko, a 29- year old mother of two says she is yet to see one of her sons since they all ran in different directions during the storm.
“I can’t see my other son up to now because last night we were confused. Nobody came to help us last night our mattresses everything got damaged we don’t have a place to sleep tonight. I am appealing to the representative to help us because we don’t have clothes all of our children are naked we don’t have even food to eat because all our things got damaged”, Maverlyne appeals.
Also, Alice Johnson, a 34-year old mother is appealing to the Liberian Red Cross, lawmakers and the President to assist them.
“The president, the representative, the senator, even the Red Cross let them come to our aid. Last night we left out until day because all of the zinc moved from over our houses. Since this morning we don’t know what to do yet, we are going around putting things out and we are waiting for the sun to come out so we can put our things out”, she says.
Alvin Gweh, 34-year old father of 1 is also in distressed explained similar story as others.
Anything can help
Henry C. Boko, a 23-year old man says any assistance will help them in the meanwhile.
“Nobody came to our recuse last night when the storm was coming. I also want to appeal to all well-meaning Liberians to help us with zinc clothes and any other thing because we are left with nothing, after all we will be starting life all over again”, Boko cries.
Strom is a common phenomenon during the rainy season in Liberia when torrential rain is accompanied by powerful wind.
Wednesday’s night incident in one in as many situations of disaster during their time of the year.
In many rural villages, the situation is even worse as storm is even more powerful in places with forest, bigger trees.
No funding for disaster
Liberia is very slow in responding to disaster and FrontPageAfrica has gathered that funding previously provided by the Government through the Disaster Management Unit at the Ministry of Internal Affairs is no longer forthcoming.
One source from the Ministry told FPA that the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning did not allot money to the Ministry for Disaster management and as such the Ministry cannot respond to such situations timely.
“Right now we cannot do anything because we do not have money for that”, the source told FPA.
In situations such storm, fire and other disasters, politicians move in quickly to get political support by donating zincs and offering assistances.
With the disaster unit of the government unable to respond, these victims like those on Capitol Hill will have to wait and see whether politicians looking for support in 2017 will come to their rescue.
J.H. Webster Clayeh (0886729972) [email protected]