Rehanna Prabhudyal woke to the roaring of crashing waves. Water from the Atlantic Ocean rose several feet into the air, the momentum carrying the waves forward over the seawall, then, seconds later, the water slammed into the ground and rushed towards her fence, battering it and rapidly flooding the yard.
“We had to hustle,” the woman recounted yesterday. For the second time in two months, the family rushed to move appliances and furniture out of reach of the swirling salt water as the unusually high tides swamped yards and flooded homes at Oceanview, Uitvlugt, West Coast Demerara early yesterday morning.
There was no warning and the ferocious waves battered homes and washed away fences and piles of wood at the ocean-side community in what residents described as one of the fiercest waves they had witnessed in years. The waves from the early morning high tides overtopped seawalls along the coast including at several points on the West Demerara with Oceanview, Uitvlugt being among the hardest hit.
“About 1.30am, we hear the wave but nobody ain think nothing,” Prabhudyal recounted yesterday. Later, in the dawn, between 4am and 5am, they realized the waves were flooding the yard. They family rushed to save appliances such as a refrigerator and a washing machine, lifting televisions and furniture higher, out of harm’s way. Water had already entered the home and the woman said that she was not sure whether the appliances were damaged.
“This one is the worse we get,” she said. “I never experience something like this…if you see this water this morning; I never see something like this.”
Prabhudyal said that similar high tides last month were not as ferocious. However, the damage to her appliances and furniture was great and she also feared that some of the items were damaged this time around as well. In the last high tides, she said, she lost her carpets, while one of her televisions is no longer working and she had to pay for repairs to other appliances.
The water this time came up to about one and a half feet before it started receding. “This real bad bhai,” Prabhudyal said. The family was cleaning the home yesterday, washing furniture, sweeping mud out of the yard and putting carpets out to dry. The woman said that she could not cook and said that if she could find a buyer for her home, she would move out right away.
For Fred and Jean Sahadeo, it was a sense of déjà vu after they were also affected by the floods the last time.
This time, waves battered their newly built zinc fence so fiercely that sections caved in under the force of the water. Fred said that the water began overtopping the seawall at about 3am and continued until about 8am.
After his last experience, he had fortified the entrances to his home and built them higher and he said that there was no damage inside. However, he pointed out that a thick layer of mud was deposited in the yard. He said that persons from the Sea Defence unit had visited the area and promised that a machine would be sent to clear the drains. “This thing terrible,” he said.
Other affected residents said that the waves were the most ferocious they have witnessed in recent times. “After I heard the water hitting the wall, I eventually see the water start raise…then the water start get high, rough, continue and start lashing over the seawall,” one man recounted. He said that the height of the water was about two and a half to three feet at his yard. He too had fortified the entrances to his home following the flooding last month.
He and other residents said that despite the clogged drains and the fact that similar flooding last month, the authorities had not moved to clear the drains. “They come and seh we gon send something to dig here…we gon send machine to dig here but nothing don’t do,” he said. “This thing sickening…we gah suffer all the time.”
Residents said that the canal has to be cleared and dug deeper. They also pointed out that a critical culvert at the head of the street has to be cleared because the opening is narrow and cannot discharge the volume of water quickly. “The width and depth of the trench, four foot, can’t take off the water,” one man said. He added that when the water on one side was high, the level of water on the other side of the culvert was low.
He criticized the authorities for being reactive rather than proactive and reiterated that something has to be done. His views were echoed by several other residents who also pointed out that one family had built their fence up to the canal and this narrowed the channel for the water to flow and hampered rapid drainage.
One resident offered to clear the canal free of charge but noted that the authorities are not proactive. They said that the Meten-Meer-Zorg/Kastev Neighbourhood Democratic Council was quick to collect their rates and taxes but did not provide services.
Other affected areas on the West Demerara included Leonora and Dem Amstel. At Dem Amstel, up to 11am yesterday, water was still in yards on Church Street. However, an excavator had been deployed to clean the canals and was in operation at the time.
Watson Sam said that he got up at 4 am and noticed the waves coming over the seawall. “We heard a noise and when we look through the window we saw the water about eight feet and then the water start gushing down,” he recounted. He said that he had lost crops in his kitchen garden the last time waves overtopped the seawall and flooded the area and it was the same thing again this time.
He said that bottles in the canals had also blocked drainage and he had to clear these to allow water to flow freely. “It needs proper drainage,” he said. The elderly man also expressed fear that the next high tides could also cause more damage. “We don’t know what will happen tonight,” he said.
