– area flooded after he left sluice open to have a ‘drink’
While some sections of East and West Berbice experienced flooding owing to heavy rainfall, residents of Yank Dam, D’ Edward Village were affected because of the negligence of the sluice operator who was immediately dismissed.
The residents told this newspaper yesterday that the operator opened the sluice on Sunday afternoon and went away to “drink” and forgot to close it back.
They said after the water started to raise they contacted Regional Chairman, Harrinarine Baldeo, who arrived around 5 am and dismissed the operator.
A press release from the Ministry of Agriculture said, “the koker attendant was dismissed immediately by the Region Five administration after being found intoxicated on the job.
“The dismissal came after the negligent operator left the D’ Edward koker open during the spring tide last night [Sunday] which compounded the effects of the heavy rainfall over the last 48 hours.”
The release noted too “while the Regional Demo-cratic Council employs all koker attendants, the Minister of Agriculture is calling on all regional bodies to monitor and take immediate action against those neglecting D&I structures and systems.”
Further, pumps and other equipment are being mobilized to enhance drainage in that and other communities in regions Five and Six.
During a visit to the area yesterday, Stabroek News noticed an excavator deployed by the Mahaica-Mahaicony-Abary/ Agricultural-Development-Authority (MMA/ADA) cleaning a quantity of plastic bottles and other debris from the blocked drainage.
Blairmont bridge
Meanwhile, over at Number One and Number Two Settlement, Blairmont, residents said this was the first time they have experienced flooding to this extent and blamed it on a bridge that is under construction in the area.
They said the floodwaters started to rise around 2 am in some sections and around 8 am in other areas on Sunday.
They said the bridge project prevented water from flowing and that even after the rain stopped on Sunday the water was not receding.
The residents also learnt that there was excessive rainfall in the backdam areas. According to them they had to “bail out the water from in the house” until a pump provided by the MMA/ADA started working around 7 pm.
A release from the Ministry of Agriculture on Sunday had stated that Blairmont was mostly affected with the situation “exacerbated by a cofferdam built across the main canal in the Blairmont area for the construction of a bridge which has been under construction by the Region for the last six months.”
Minister Robert Persaud had instructed that the cofferdam be removed immediately and the pump be installed in the area to accelerate drainage, the release stated. A cofferdam is a watertight structure, which is pumped dry to enable underwater work.
Stabroek News spoke to the contractor of Eron Lall Civil Works and he said that the project, which started at the end of February, had been affected by adverse weather conditions.
“This is not the first time that we have had to open the cofferdam,” Lall said. “It occurs regularly because of the rain.” He said on Sunday morning the dam was opened around 4 am and the “water had reached a normal level and was not threatening.”
He admitted that project had not met the deadline and said that apart from the removing and rebuilding of the cofferdam being costly it was a time-consuming exercise.
He said regional officials had ordered that the project be suspended for one month owing to the weather but they “still had to maintain the approach road and the cofferdam.”
Engineer attached to the company, Lambert Amsterdam told Stabroek News that the project is about 60% completed. He said the abutment and the reinforcement were finished and 40% of work left to be completed included more abutment and the “decking.”
He said they were experiencing problems with the location because it was the main drainage canal and they had to leave access for traffic. He said the intention had been to divert the water to the sluice at Number 4 Settlement, Blairmont but it was too far away.
On Sunday, water had also accumulated in several communities in Region Six but more so in Canefield, Canje. The water was gradually receding by way of gravity drainage at the Pepper Sluice and the installation of a mobile drainage pump by the regional administration and the Guyana Sugar Corpora-tion (Guysuco) to continue draining the area during the high tide.
There were reports that the water was still high in some areas like Vryman’s Erven in New Amsterdam, Palmyra and other sections on the Corentyne. (Shabna Ullah)
