Water which has over the past two days flooded parts of the Diamond and Grove Housing Scheme stayed on the land yesterday as the authorities began putting measures in place to alleviate flash flooding in vulnerable areas.
According to the Ministry of Agriculture (MoA), the National Drainage and Irriga-tion Authority (NDIA) has stepped up its programme to support RDCs and NDCs affected by localized flash flooding, which saw several areas recording as much as five inches of rainfall.
Excavators and pumps have been deployed along with engineers to assess the situation and take the necessary action.
During a visit to the area yesterday, persons there noted that their yards had been under water since Friday evening and according to them, the water rose last evening even though there was no rainfall.
At Grove/Diamond, in the Block X, Section Y area, Ricky Ramdanie told Stabroek News that his yard had been under water since Friday morning and according to him, he lost vegetable plants as well as poultry. His two dogs also died as a result of the flooding.
Ramdanie along with other residents noted that the water drained into the area from the backdam, aback the housing scheme in the vicinity of the East Demerara Water Conser-vancy and according to them the RDC in the area was not proactive where implementing measures to cushion the situation is concerned.
Another resident noted that the area had been experiencing flooding for several months now but with heavy rainfall over the past few days, the water level had begun to rise further.
Another resident told this newspaper that she could not leave her home over the past two days since the water level in her yard was not receding. She said she has a two-month-old baby and according to her, the floodwaters caused a swarm of mosquitoes to invade her home at night.
Residents in the area stated that Agriculture Minister Robert Persaud during a visit to the area on Saturday assured that the MoA will assist in alleviating the flooded area but according to them, help seemed not to be in sight as the pump which was sourced to throw off water from the area was not working yesterday.
When Stabroek News visited the koker, located close to the Diamond/Grove market near to the Demerara River, persons there were waiting on spare parts to effect repairs to a mobile pump which had broken down. An overseer there told this newspaper that the pump was working when it was deployed there on Saturday but the machine, which was sourced from the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo) developed mechanical problems.
Yesterday afternoon, residents in the area told Stabroek News that the pump attendant related to them that the machine would not be fixed until tomorrow and as such they expressed concern over the situation. GuySuCo officials could not be reached for comment yesterday.
Meanwhile, residents of Vive La Force on the West Bank of Demerara were yesterday mopping–up after floodwaters swamped their homes the day before. Residents there noted that water level began to drop on Saturday evening.
The MoA yesterday stated that works have been on-going in regions along the coastland affected by adverse weather conditions. Among those works are the excavation of main drainage areas, the installation of sluice doors at critical areas, empoldering and the installation of new drainage structures at various locations.
