-vendors count losses in millions
The Stabroek Market was closed yesterday for a massive clean up after an “unprecedented” flooding during Thursday’s spring tide.
The market complex was inundated as the Demerara River overtopped the defences behind it around 4pm on Thursday. Many stall holders and the Clerk of Markets said that they have never seen such flooding from spring tides.
“The market is closed and will only open if we feel that every effort to clean-up has been satisfactory,” Clerk of Markets Schulder Griffith said yesterday. “I’ve never seen nothing like this in all my years at the market. Every part of the market had flood,” he noted.
He added that he had been up with stall holders most of Thursday night as they tried to save goods from further damage.
The market is expected to be reopened today.
According to Griffith, a review of how goods are stored in the market will be done to prevent any significant damage to goods if flooding is to recur. He noted that tide charts showed that the level on Thursday was the highest that tide water will reach for the season.
In a first, vehicles were allowed into the market yesterday so that stall holders could secure their goods. Many of them could be seen cleaning and assessing the damage that was done. Water was said to be at its highest in the back of the market, near the defence keeping the Demerara River at bay.
The Fire Service, located in the vicinity of the market, also assisted with the clean up efforts by washing the market using its hoses.
According to a stall holder, the water was at her waist and was rising rapidly on Thursday afternoon. All she could do was stand and watch as some of her goods floated away.
The flooding of the market came as a surprise to everybody.
Ground provisions vendor Mahadeo said that he had already closed his stall and left for the afternoon before the high tide rolled in. Yesterday morning, he said, his pumpkins, eddoes yam and ginger were all soaked. “If it don’t get sell out in a couple ah days it gun rotten,” Mahadeo said. His stall is located at the back of the market.
In Section Three of the market, meanwhile, stall holders were seen cleaning up their surroundings and sorting out wet damaged goods. Piles of wet soggy boxes, some with goods in them lined the pathways throughout the market as man and woman alike with bucket-in-hand were seen washing and wiping down.
The owner of Sally’s Boutique, which is located in Section Three, recalled that the water was knee-high yesterday. She managed to save some of her goods, which were mostly clothes, but said that she is still counting her losses.
Another stall holder in that location, Pulmattie Ramdass, estimated her losses at $2.5M for the two boutiques she owns.
Meanwhile, stall holder Boyo Persaud of Boyo’s Fashion called for vendors and the city council to work together to prevent a similar outcome in future. He added that while nothing can be that while nothing can be done to stop the spring tide, “we all have to come together and see how best we can try to save our merchandise.” He then commended the Council for the work it did after the flooding of the market.
City Hall spokesman Royston King, meanwhile, called on all persons to avoid indiscriminate dumping of garbage and to keep their surroundings clean. He also advised against dumping in “the city’s fragile drainage system.” King also noted that the Mayor and City Council will be hosting a forum next month with the general public to discuss climate change and specifically the rise in sea levels and its impact on the city.
