Transport and Hydraulics Minister Robeson Benn yesterday said between 40% and 60% of the housing areas and prime agricultural lands along the coast have been affected by recent flooding, with rice in some parts particularly hit.
Filling in for Agriculture Minister Robert Persaud, who is currently overseas on official business, Benn told reporters that work is underway with both gravity and mechanical draining taking place in the affected areas. He added that all sluices are operable and all pumps have been deployed and are in operation, with water being discharged to the Demerara River at Land of Canaan, Kofi and Cunha.
He added that he along with other officials made a trip to the Essequibo, where there is a breach of the conservancy at Golden Fleece. “The breach we have at Golden Fleece is being actively attended to and should be sealed off tomorrow (today) in terms of being isolated and the repair job done,” he said.
The team also flew over the coast going eastwards to the Mahaica/Mahaicony area to view the affected areas. “There are some areas in the overfly where we saw some young rice is flooded and the sugarcane areas appear to be generally in a fair condition,” Benn said. He added that on the northern part of Wakenaam, young rice is under water and in some areas rice near to being reaped is threatened. The Guyana Rice Development Board and the Rice Producers Association are assessing the situation with the rice crop.
According to Benn, the situation should be alleviated within two days once there continues to be fair weather. “I think generally we are coming out of it and once the situation holds in terms of weather and the efforts which are being made vigorously over the areas to manage the situation are upheld, we should come out in a fairly tidy fashion,” he said.
He added that water is off of most of the roads and dams in the affected areas.
Meanwhile, Head of the National Drainage and Irrigation Authority Lionel Wordsworth said there has been improvement in drainage in all the affected areas and reiterated the hope for good weather. And in explaining why some areas on the lower East Coast Demerara were still under water, Wordsworth said that the agricultural lands aback these villages share the same drainage systems as the residential areas and hence the water runs into the living areas when drainage starts. Additionally, it was explained that when the sluices are closed because of high tides, it results in the water backing up into the villages.
The officials said that once the situation in other areas improves, the pumps will be moved into those areas most in need to speed up the drainage.
Also at the news conference was the Hydromet Office’s Specialist Hydrologist (ag) Garvin Cummings, who was cautious in his forecast. “We’re expecting generally fair weather for the next 24 hours, with the possible development of cloudy conditions maybe Sunday. But what I want to caution is that we are still in the La Niña phase and therefore heavy downpours can (occur),” he said.
Cummings added that the last spring tide for the month occurred yesterday morning, with the next one expected on March 1.
