-Chief Sea Defence Officer

Chief River and Sea Defence Officer Geoffrey Vaughn has said that there was no breach of the sea dam at Herstelling, East Bank Demerara during the spring tides experienced recently.

Responding to an article in this newspaper headlined “Demerara River pounds Meadowbank to Little Diamond,” published on Thursday, Vaughn referred to a caption on a photo published on the front page that said there was a breach in the sea defence at Sea Dam in Herstelling. “There is no breach on the sea dam at Herstelling, however, the embankment at certain areas is low which is due to the activities of the squatters and needs to be raised,” Vaughn explained in a letter. He said that the Division has found it very difficult to execute works on the embankment since there are 30 squatting houses there. “This has hampered any execution of works; the area is totally impassable for any machine to execute works” he added.

Vaughn said that this was further verified by visits made by officials of the Division. “We therefore refute the content of your article which specifically refers to breach in sea dam and question the source.” He added that it is the Division’s intention to timely address all critical area along coastal and riverain areas but would appreciate the cooperation of the media when reporting such matters.

Spring tides over the past few days have overtopped river and sea defences and flooded sections of the coastline.