– residents slam lack of preparation for rainfall
Flooded out city residents yesterday condemned the authorities for failing to heed several calls made over the past seven months for drainage works to be carried out.
Repeated attempts to contact the Mayor and City Council yesterday proved futile.
In several areas around the city yesterday, residents could be seen bailing out bottom flats, shifting furniture and hanging out soggy carpets. Some four inches of rainfall were recorded in Georgetown yesterday. Reports from around the country indicate that similar amounts were dumped.
Residents called on the authorities to be more proactive in anticipation of heavy rainfall during the May/June rainy season. According to the Met Office, rainfall is expected to continue over the next few days.
When Stabroek News visited affected areas yesterday, persons called on the authorities to ensure adequate measures are in place to prevent severe flooding in the city.
The rains broke early yesterday morning and according to the Timehri Met Office, rainfall recorded during yesterday averaged in the vicinity of four inches. Cloudy conditions are expected to prevail today with showers along the coast, as well as in Regions Seven to Nine.
A high tide warning is in effect over a 24-hour period from 7 am today and residents along the coast and low-lying areas are asked to take necessary precautions.
The water levels began to recede some time after 2 pm yesterday as the rains eased. Residents in the affected sections of the city were bracing themselves for rainfall which is expected to continue over the next few days.
In the Section K, Campbellville area, residents were bailing water which accumulated in their homes and according residents there, the drains and canals in the area should have been cleared prior to the rains.
According to residents in Enachu Street, a nearby trench had been filled with thick vegetation for the past several months and several complaints were filed with the M&CC. Other residents said the authorities even visited the area but no action was taken to remedy the situation.
They said most canals and drains in the area were cleaned soon after the 2005 floods but no work had been done since then.
“They had all the time to clean canals and now they have excavators clearing canals when they could have done that during El Nino season,” a resident in the Turkeyen area told Stabroek News yesterday as she anticipated additional rainfall over the next few days.
There had been calls from persons over the past several weeks for the authorities to clear the main drainage areas in anticipation of the May/June rains.
At a recent press conference, Cabinet Secretary Dr Roger Luncheon noted that the dry weather phenomenon which had been impacting severely on farming areas and water sources across the country was expected to continue until the May/June period and that the plight faced by affected persons had not lessened.
Stabroek News understands however, that the Agriculture Ministry is mobilizing machines to clear drainage areas along the coastland in anticipation of rainfall.
