Several villages along the East Coast Demerara were swamped yesterday in the wake of heavy rainfall that hit the coastland in the wee hours of the morning.
Among those heavily hit were Le Ressouvenir and Lusignan where nearby trenches were overflowing even though kokers were open. Children were forced to stay indoors after flood waters began to rise and the Education Ministry announced a rain day for all public schools in Georgetown, along the East Coast and East Bank Demerara. It further announced last evening that Chateau Margot Primary was the only East Coast school that was to remain closed today owing to the flooding.
Some villagers complained of damage to their cash crops. “Some of we get plants and it damaging we cash crop,” a villager from Le Ressouvenir said. He stated that the land being swamped was a consistent problem. “They should do something. Fix the drains and canals or something. Get we a pump to pull out the water,” he lamented.
Singh, another villager, said the incessant rainfall was not the only problem but an abandoned trench in the village. He related that when there is heavy rainfall yards and homes would flood as the water in the blocked trench would swell.
“The whole front of my yard is a sea,” he said, standing in knee-high water.
Rishi Sancharr said he had evaded previous flooding in the area by building up the surrounding of his home. “I’m lucky this time ’cause other times the water would seep into the house and wet up everything. It would break up the concrete… As long as the rain falls this happens.”
“Every time the rain falls is it a flood here,” one woman from Lusignan told Stabroek News. Huge potholes in the road in the village were covered with water. “This is problem. The road bad and they ain’t doing nothing to repair it,” she said, noting that the crater-size holes in the road along with intense rain would flood the yards and keep everyone in their homes. (Jeanna Pearson)
