A ST MICHAEL MAN is counting himself lucky to be alive today.

Mervin Ismael, 44, of Hinckson Gap, New Orleans, St Michael, was moments away from being crushed as the entire front half of his wall and timber house collapsed yesterday morning.

"I was in the front sleeping when I had a phone call saying a friend was coming over. So I get up and went to start mopping the bedrooms in the back when the front house fell down. If I didn't get that call I would have died," he said.

The reason why Ismael had to start mopping was because the front part of the house had already begun to separate, causing rain to leak inside the house.

"I have had this problem for the past three to four years. The owner of the house died and the people who were collecting the rent stopped coming for it. Now every time we have heavy rain I have to use sponges and buckets," he said.

Ismael has been living in the house since 1982. He shares it with his two children, who are away for the summer holiday, and two other adults. Right now he's at a loss at what to do and is appealing for help as he has now to live at the back of the house.

"I would like the Urban Development Commission or the National Housing Unit or something to send a truck to help move the rubble," he pleaded yesterday. (CA)