After two days of incessant rainfall, Hope Estate farmers are now grappling with millions of dollars in estimated losses after acres of cash crops were destroyed in the flooding.
Georgetown and most parts of the East Coast of Demerara continued to be swamped by floodwater yesterday, as heavy rains continue to batter the country. The persistent rainfall began on Wednesday night and continued into Thursday, by which time the entire city and coastal areas were covered in water.
The water level at the East Demerara Water Conservancy (EDWC) remained below the danger mark yesterday. The EDWC flagstaff yesterday recorded 56.25 George-town Datum (GD), 1.25 below the release mark. This was backed up by confirmation from the Chief Executive Officer of the National Drainage and Irrigation Authority Lionel Wordsworth.
Wordsworth explained yesterday that the water level in the conservancy will be released if it reaches the full supply, which is 57.5 GD.
But despite the pumps in motion, residents complained about the pumps’ incapability to get the water off the land fast enough and were questioning if more pumps will be installed.
Angered by the loss of their crops, Hope farmers yesterday contended that the flooding could have been prevented if there was proper management of the koker and the pump.
Stabroek News received information that the pump had only started working yesterday morning because there were mechanical problems and no fuel for the pump.
“This is our living gone,” Roopnarine Doodnauth said, lamenting his losses as he treaded through acres of his tomato farm. “We don’t do anything else…everything gone. My tomato, my watermelons, my cucumber and pawpaw.”
Most of the farmers on the estate rely on the crops to maintain their families; without it they would have to seek other jobs to provide for their families. However, after 12 hours of toiling in the backdams, these farmers can only hope that their crops would survive.
Dozens of farmers yesterday trod through their farms, examining their crops that were destroyed by the floodwaters. “We can’t go plant back crop now. Nothing can’t grow between now and Christmas,” Doodnauth lamented.
He said when the rain fell on Wednesday evening he did not expect what he would meet in his farm the next morning. He stated that when he visited the farm on Thursday, all of his crops had been submerged in water.
He noted that the prices for many of his cash crops were good on the market at this time of the year and he was looking forward to the money for Christmas. “Passion fruits are $20…the tomatoes are $300 a pound,” he said. “Now we can’t get this back…this is our money to mind our family.”
Farmers complained that the pump had stopped functioning on Thursday after it started experiencing some complications. They added that when the pump began to work again, it ran out of diesel.
“I think they should have fixed that pump before the rainy season come, not wait until it start and scramble to fix it,” one farmer named Odith said.
The man stated that the pump they were using was too small to service such a large estate. “You wanna cry when you see what happen at the back there…who gon mind us when we lost so much? It would be stupid to say it’s not government fault when they move us out of Mahaicony Creek and bring us here and promise betterment,” he stated.
Harry Matabdal, a passion fruit farmer, said he has lost several acres of the crops to the waters. He stated that rain alone could not have caused such great damage to his crops. He said there are times when the rainfall would be more intense and nothing would happen to his crop. “Two days water and suh much water…something wrong here. This is conservancy dam (East Demerara Water Conservancy) water and rain water,” he said.
He added that the drains in the backdams were overgrown with weeds and when the rain fell the water swelled and overtopped onto the crop beds. He stated that when the relevant authorities would clean the drains they would “clean the front part and leave the back where the crops are”.
Hope Estate Manager Rabindranath Persaud said that all exits along the conservancy have been closed in order to avoid water draining into the Savannah. He stated further that the Savannah sluices have also been closed along with sluices adjacent to the Crown Dam to “buy more time so that the water lodged in the populated areas will get to drain off first.”
He stated that the flooding experienced by farmers came from rainfall from the backlands and not from the conservancy dam.
However, Hope residents contended that the flooding occurred because the koker was not working and the pump was too small to drain out all the water. Naline Persaud said she had expected the water level to drop but it continued to rise yesterday.
“This is a lot of pressure on us…most of the people in here are farmers and they take us out from Mahaicony Creek flood and bring us here to drown us,” she said.
Sandra Ramotar, 37, said she woke up on Thursday and found her yard swamped by water. When her husband went to check their farm in the backdam, he found their crops knee deep in water. She related that some 1,000 roots of bora and ochro, along with 200 roots of tomatoes and karaila were lost in the floods.
“Long meh struggle to bring them up and now to reap, I can reap, this is meh life, how I gun live?” she said
Rajendra Brijmohan said he lost about four acres of passion fruit and pawpaw. “This is the first time I plant here and now this happen. I lost a lot from this crop,” he said.
Ramkumar Toolaram, who is also a farmer at Hope Backlands, said that he has lost some four and a half acres of cultivated farmland filled with cash crops, which includes hot pepper, sweet pepper, karaila and squash. He lamented that over $2M in produce have been damaged by the floodwater.
When Stabroek News visited some of the affected areas along the East Coast of Demerara yesterday, there was visible flooding in both low and highland areas. Some of the pumps were being monitored by persons and were up and running, which includes the pumps at Liliendaal, Montrose, Buxton, Greenfield, and Mon Repos. One of the three pumps at Victoria was not functional. The Enmore sluice was also in operation as well as the sluice in Buxton.
One of the sluice attendants who requested anonymity related that as long as there is a washing tide, the sluice doors will be closed as the pumps take over in getting the water into the ocean. As the falling tides return, the pumps will be turned off and the doors will be lifted and gravitational flow will take place.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Agriculture yesterday forecast overcast conditions over coastal to inland areas and added that these conditions are expected to be accompanied by moderate to heavy showers and thundershowers. The afternoon is expected to see a decrease in intensity and frequency in the showers but the cloudy to overcast conditions are expected to continue. (Additional reporting by Suraj Narine)
