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When it All Falls Down for A Southside Family
posted (June 3, 2020)
Tonight a mother and her two children are homeless after their small home fell last night during the rains.

42-year-old Thalia Westby, was at home with her children on Baldwin Drive near Faber's Road when the house collapsed.

The small 12 by 14 wooden structure toppled after the heavy rains inundated the swamp where the house sits and destabilized the stilts.

Today she told Cherisse Halsall about her plight:

Thalia Westby, Single Mom
"Actually in the evening about 5:30 I came home and I was making supper for my kids and we heard the post breaking and it wasn't loud at first, but when my oldest son came he stood on the steps and he heard it outside and so he told us to come out. By the time he said that, me and my other 2 kids we ran out. If we didn't ran out at that time then we would have been in there. Well it's sitting down from off the post, because the house was about 3-4 feet from off the ground. So now part of it is in the water and part is held up by a stomp that is back there. The night before with the lot of rains and because it holds more water back there, I guess it lift the posts from underneath it and then I guess that's what caused the posts to collapsed. I went in there this morning to try get some of our stuff out, but it's not safe. When you walk it sounds like some of the boards are going to fall and we want to get stuff out from there, but I am not sure if it's safe for me to go in there. For year I try to built it, it's not a pretty house, but it's still a home for me and my kids and I try to accumulate second hand lumber so that I can build the house. It's a struggle for me as a single parent to pay rent, so I try build something here at my mom's place. It only me and my 2 children. My son just came to visit us. I am not sure what will happen. Anyone who can assist maybe even to rebuild the structure I don't mind. If I get a new house then God bless me. I just want something that we can stay in. Financially I don't have the money to do it."

Those wanting to help Westby can call her at 625-5543.

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