Although remedial works are ongoing, residents of Montrose and other villages on the lower East Coast are still suffering the consequences of the unusually high spring tide which brought floods that woke them up on Thursday morning.
Many of the residents, especially along the northern perimeter of the communities, complained that some of their personal belongings were damaged beyond repair because of the flood water.
“Everybody was sleeping when the water come on Thursday morning,” said Sadhna Sharma of 207 Montrose. “The water was in the house…when we wake up the water come up,” she said, adding that some of the poultry normally kept in the yard was now seeking refuge on the veranda. Sharma said that some of the livestock had died because of the flooding.
Swift action had to be taken yesterday to expand the drains close to the main road of some villages affected by the heavy overtopping of the seawall along the East Coast Demerara.
Owing to the works, cars and other vehicles belonging to persons in the streets had to be parked on the public road.
Throughout the village north of the public road, most of the houses were either muddied from earlier floodwaters or were still flooded yesterday. But amidst all the despair and losses, some residents still found the verve to take part in the Phagwah celebrations.
Rajadai Sanchara of 195 Montrose said that the water came up very high in her apartment. “All my appliances damaged. All these things soak, soak,” she said, expressing the fear that the process might be repeated when the high tide returned a few hours later.
Shrimintie Sanchara, who lives in the same building but in an adjoining apartment, said: “I have 12 ducks in the yard. I ent see them back. The flood must have taken them away.”
Sonoboy, who lives in the same street, said that all the items that he had bought for the Easter holidays had been damaged by the flood. “I didn’t expect the flood to come so high,” he said, adding that the water came up to around two feet in his house.
“We have three apartments in this building and a lot of things got damaged for us, carpets, mattresses, furniture. We couldn’t save anything. All the meat in the freezer spoil. We were preparing for Easter. We bought things to prepare and sell for Easter Monday,” another distraught resident, Urmilla Sanchara said.
Safeeda Assirbad said that she had lost her wardrobe, her wall divider, vanity and carpet.
Drupattie said that since 5 am yesterday she and her family had been cleaning house because of the floodwaters and up to around midday, they were still at it.
Most of the residents think that the government should look into the possibility of providing assistance in the wake of the flooding, since they will be hard-pressed to replace the items that have been lost or damaged beyond repair.
Hydraulics Minister Robeson Benn giving an update on the situation yesterday explained that the intensity of the tides which is being caused by the current spring tide period is being compounded by long-range waves coming in building up to four metres on the regular high tide.
Benn said that usually when overtopping took place the water was fed to canals close to Montrose and then pumped back into the sea at low tide.While there were adequate drains in the area to take the water to the canals and then to the pump, he said, encroachment on reserves had narrowed the tertiary drains.
He said many of the residents had been given several notices to pull back their property lines but no moves had been made in this direction.
The hydraulics ministry has since been forced to dig open some of those drains allowing for a freer flow of water towards the pump.
Benn said several drains were also opened parallel to the seawall and so the duration of flood was reduced significantly yesterday in comparison with Friday. Up to late yesterday afternoon an excavator was still digging drains in Montrose allowing for a freer flow of water.
Benn said that an incidence of overtopping may have occurred early yesterday morning and afternoon at around 5. Better Hope North and Montrose North, he said, were the areas most affected, but sand-crete bags were being placed in some areas where there was undermining of the seawall.
Minister of Agriculture Robert Persaud and other officials visited the areas on the lower East Coast affected by floods on Friday and again yesterday.
A Government Information Agency release yesterday reported him as saying that a lot of resources were being spent in the area, and that a hot meal area had been set up for those whose kitchens had been affected by the water. Trucks had been distributing potable water.
The statement said too that there had been reports of minor overtopping in areas on the Essequibo coast.
Many Caribbean countries including Trini-dad and Tobago and Antigua and Barbuda have issued warnings to fishermen as well as tourists who visit beaches to stay away from such locations as they too are likely to be affected by potentially dangerous sea swells.
