Regional Chairman of Region Five, Bindrabhan Bisnauth has assured that government will provide excavators to commence empoldering in the Abary Creek because the water has now started to recede rapidly.
He told Stabroek News in an interview that no substantial work was done in the Abary as in the case of the Mahaica and Mahaicony creeks because of the high level of floodwaters. Farmers in those creeks were also able to empolder their “private holdings.”
Residents suffered losses to rice, cattle, poultry and cash crops as a result of the flooding and some even had to relocate with their families on the coast until it was safe to return.
Regional officials plan to visit the area for a “one-to-one discussion on what can be done to assist them.” He also said that “we would wait until the water drain completely to do a loss analysis.”
The Guyana Rice Development Board has commenced an analysis and verification exercise in the meantime, though.
Bisnauth said government had provided fuel to some Mahaica and Mahaicony Creek farmers who were pumping water out of their rice fields to save their crops.
He also said that a medical team has made two recent visits to the Abary Creek where residents were treated for common colds and flu and other minor conditions. The veterinarians also visited there and the Mahaicony Creek and distributed supplies.
Meanwhile, he said remedial drainage work was done immediately in the 10 Neighbourhood Democratic Councils (NDCs) to assist with effective drainage.
The region also provided three tubes to the Blairmont area, four to Rosignol, while a four ft. tube was supplied for the Yankee Canal in the Mahaica Creek, where a pump has been installed at the river mouth to drain 3,500 acres of rice.
The chairman noted that some persons have been installing small tubes for their personal drainage and he pleaded with them to desist from doing so.
He said this causes discomfort to other residents and that the region was forced to send the health inspector with orders for some persons to remove the tubes. He urged residents to go to the region or the NDCs to seek advice on the correct size of tubes to install.
He noted too that the “wanton disposal of garbage” was the main factor that contributed to flooding in the region and that the NDCs have already cleared truckloads from trenches and other areas.
Along with the drainage works, the region has also assisted in constructing a bridge at the western end of Bennett Dam, Rosignol.
