Some time after 1 pm on Tuesday, a tree outside the Georgetown Cricket Club (GCC) Ground at Bourda became uprooted and fell bringing down an electricity pole with wires and upsetting a swarm of bees that had probably been living in its branches. Part of New Garden Street was temporarily blocked and there was some initial confusion. However, likely because of its proximity to the Ministry of Agriculture and the Office of the President, within a short time there was a beekeeper on the ground; workers were sawing up the tree to clear the roadway and the utility companies were standing by.
No doubt, the tree fell owing to the same reason many others have fallen in the past – its water-logged roots could no longer remain in the sodden earth. The tree was one of several stalwarts that have stood outside the GCC for ages. Quite possibly, it might have afforded many a free bird’s eye view of international cricket matches at the once world-famous sward back in the day. Its demise might be an indication that others could be threatened with the same fate and perhaps they should be examined by someone from Bourda’s neighbour across the street—the Ministry of Agriculture—which has the necessary expertise.
While some plants do grow in water, the trees that line the avenues and other thoroughfares in George-town were not so designed and will suffer adversely from prolonged immersion. Houses too were not built to exist in the swampland Guyana’s coast becomes at least once a year. After a while – just like the tree which was uprooted and fell – houses will be at risk for severe structural damage caused by the constant water-logging of their foundations. People living in Guyana’s rural coastal areas, who have been losing agricultural produce and livestock on an annual basis, could face losing their homes in the not too distant future. Many persons in the city need to be wary of this as well.
After the 2005 Great Flood, residents in the Mahaica and Mahaicony areas who were severely affected had revealed that even before the flood their farmlands and sometimes kitchen gardens, homes and schools were being flooded on an annual basis. Today, six years after the Great Flood, the situation has not changed much. The powers that be point to climate change and La Niña as exacerbating the current situation and are claiming that long-term relief will be attained when the $3.6 billion Hope Canal is completed in two years. Unfortunately, work on this edifice cannot be done during adverse weather conditions so it is unlikely that anything will change in the near future.
In the city and on its outskirts, drainage problems have been ongoing for more than a decade with what has definitely been just a desultory approach to rectifying the problem. In the city, in sections of North and South Ruimveldt in particular, flooding occurs after little more than a drizzle for two reasons: the majority of the drains are filled with silt and covered with weeds; and many of the streets are below the level of the drains. On the outskirts, former drainage areas (swamps/fields) are being filled in and opened up for housing development. While it is obvious from the rate at which lots are being snapped up, that there is a need to provide housing it ought to be done sustainably. If swampland is being reclaimed for housing, there ought to be some thought given to where the water the swamp formerly accumulated would go.
On Tuesday, for the second time in as many weeks, citizens were warned that the East Demerara Water Conservancy (EDWC) was at a critical level. And this time, the authorities announced that water would be released through the Mahaica Creek. As any physician would tell you, a patient who is constantly critically ill if not properly managed and attended to will expire. There is no consensus among the engineering community that the Hope Canal is the medicine the EDWC needs, but one would hope that once completed it will not prove to be yet another wildly expensive crutch.
Meantime, the city awaits its salvation.