Although fair weather has prevailed since persistent rainfall ended on Monday, parts of Buxton yesterday remained under several inches of water and it may take two more days to be drained.
Yesterday, Agriculture Minister Robert Persaud directed that two additional pumps be installed at the Buxton pump basin to help with the drainage, according to a statement last evening from the National Drainage and Irrigation Authority (NDIA).
Residents of the East Coast Demerara (ECD) community living along the railway line embankment told this newspaper that the area appears to be neglected by the authorities, since the water level at the nearby communities had dropped significantly. Repeated attempts yesterday to obtain a comment from the Chairman of the NDIA Lionel Wordsworth were futile. However, an employee at the Lusignan drainage pump near the seawall told this newspaper that two pumps were in operation there since Monday. He said that at the moment water is being pumped out of a main drainage canal that connects to Buxton. “Is a lot of water which got to be drained out so it will take at least two more days,” the man noted.
A resident of the Church of God Road at Buxton told Stabroek News yesterday that the community had been under as much as 12 inches of water following persistent rainfall on Monday. She said that the accumulated water is being drained out of the community via a main drainage canal which leads to the pump station at Lusignan. She noted, however, “something wrong somehow because this water level rising every morning since Tuesday.”
Another canal located at the Buxton/Friendship sideline dam is also being used to drain the water off of the land but an official there said that this was being done at a slow pace. He explained that a koker at the seawall area at Buxton is opened at a scheduled time and water was being drained out of the main canal there every eight hours. This was the case yesterday and it was noted by the official that within the next two days the area would be drained completely. He noted that there was need for “more natural drainage” systems to be placed within the Buxton area and nearby low level communities.
Yesterday, most of the streets at Buxton were lined with animals, including pigs and sheep. An elderly woman who resides at Company Road in the community noted that most of her livestock had been “sleeping along the road since Monday.” She said that there was need for better drainage within the community and she noted that “this area is in a basin and for water to come out of here it got to travel down to Lusignan.”
Other residents noted that over the past few days the water level within the community would drop and later in the day it would rise again.
This newspaper visited other communities along the railway embankment, including Dazzell Housing Scheme, Bachelor’s Adventure, Mon Repos and Good Hope, where persons were cleaning their yards and water marks were evident on the foundations of several homes within the communities, which had been flooded following Monday’s excessive rainfall.
An official at the Agriculture Ministry told this newspaper on Tuesday that “the back water” from the backlands had accumulated in the areas along the ECD, following the persistent rainfall. He said that the authorities were pumping the water out of the area and with time the water levels would have receded.
In the statement last evening, the NDIA said it had undertaken further interventions to support farmers of Buxton/Friendship affected by the recent heavy rainfall. It noted the move for two extra pumps and said the NDIA’s Community Drainage and Irrigation Project (CDIP) workers have also been assisting in clearing critical drainage canals within the community. “In addition, the Authority had cleared a key culvert to facilitate the opening of the Buxton sluice doors, which was heavily silted,” it said, while noting that the sluice was subsequently working at full capacity. “Additionally, twelve drainage and irrigation projects were successfully completed in the Buxton/Friendship area. These projects, totalling more than $115M are part of the NDIA’s master plan to ensure communities and farmers are protected from the adverse effects of climate change by strengthening the drainage infrastructure. These included the rehabilitation of the Buxton pump basin, the construction of revetment along the Buxton Company canal, excavation works within Buxton and Friendship and the mechanical cleaning of the Buxton Company canal from CNC to Pond Dam Bridge,” the statement said.
According to the NDIA, the sum also covered the cost of tools and labour for the excavation of the canals, rehabilitation of four hundred rods on crown dam between Strathspey and La Reconnaissance, the repair of four intake structures on the rehabilitated crown dam and the rehab of the Buxton sluice doors. “Other projects included major rehabilitation of all major drainage and irrigation canals, construction of GH revetment within the Buxton pump basin and construction of a timber bridge at Buxton Company across the CNC canal. These projects form part of the Minister of Agriculture’s commitment to improve drainage in both farming and residential areas in the Buxton/Friendship area,” the statement added.
Persaud and a team of technical officers are to conduct an inspection today of the interventions implemented, the release said.
