When a landslide brought down part of the back of Brandon Hercules's family house in Delaford, Tobago, on Wednesday afternoon, it also brought back painful memories of the day his father died, some 22 years ago.
"The same noise I heard when the wall came crashing down was the same sound I heard when the tyre my father was fixing on his backhoe exploded, killing him. That sound sent me straight back to that day – and look, he was buried on October 5, the same day a part of our house collapsed," he told Newsday.
Hercules, 32, lives with his mother Lyn O'Neil, 61, in the two-storey house. It suffered more damage than anywhere else in Tobago from tropical wave Invest 91L, which triggered landslides and flooding throughout Trinidad and Tobago on Wednesday.
Hercules said the incident occurred around 2.15 pm. He and his mother spent the night at the home of one of his aunts in Betsy's Hope. But he said the Tobago Emergency Management Agency (TEMA) is arranging to relocate them to a guesthouse for about three to four months, in the first instance.
They managed to salvage many of their possessions, some of which was shifted to the front of the house, which was not affected by the landslide.
He and his mother are still shaken by the incident. "Right now my head is all over the place and my mother is trying to come to terms with it."
Hercules, the last of five children, said when the house collapsed his mother became delirious.
"She was running up and down the house trying to save stuff.
"But I told her we needed to get her out of the house before anything else happens."
He said since visiting the health centre, she has calmed down considerably.
Hercules said he has never seen so much water at their home.
"This is why I got frightened; when I saw that the rain continued to fall..."
He said the house is in serious danger as another landslide is threatening another wall at the back.
"So I am hoping that the rain eases up because it could mean more disaster for us."
He is hoping relief agencies will help them in a timely manner.
"The Chief Secretary gave us the assurance that assistance will come fast but they have to wait until the rain stops so they can see how much assistance they can give us."
Hercules said things could have been worse.
"Right now, I am just thanking God for life."
Chief Secretary Farley Augustine, who visited Hercules' damaged home with TEMA on Wednesday night, said he was grateful that no lives were lost as he recalled the Delaford landslides 18 years ago that killed three people – Shirley Nimblett-Ferguson, 43, her 16-year-old daughter Kathy-Ann Ferguson and Tyrone Keston McMillan, 30.
"This is uncomfortably reminiscent of where Delaford has been at before," Augustine said. "It's only 2004 that this area experienced significant damage because of heavy rainfall, and we see quite a bit of mudslide around this home. It is a family that experienced similar catastrophe before."
TEMA director Allan Stewart said, "I want to give you assurance, based on the commitment today, you all will recover better, stronger, with better resilience going forward."
