President David Granger yesterday convened a Cabinet meeting at 4 am to address severe rain-fuelled flooding which surged through the city and several parts of the coast and by last night the Civil Defence Commission (CDC) was reporting that normalcy was being returned gradually to some areas.
At a meeting convened at 18:00 hrs at the CDC’s office to brief Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo, performing the functions of President, and Cabinet on the flood situation, it was reported by the National Emer-gency Operations Centre (NEOC) that while Regions 3, 4 and 5 are the most affected, water has started to fall in some communities across the coastland. Some residents reported that they had not seen flooding on this scale since 2005.
A release from the Ministry of the Presidency said that Nagamootoo told the members of the NEOC that they must “work round the clock” to ensure that the lives of the citizens are not affected much longer and noted that the Centre has the support of the government.
Minister of Social Pro-tection, Volda Lawrence, the release said, announced that shelters have been set up for residents who are affected. In Albouystown, one of the hardest hit areas, Lawrence said that shelters have been established at the Albouystown and the Selman Fraser Nursery schools while affected elderly residents can contact the Ministry of Social Protection on telephone numbers 225-6545 or 225- 7112 for assistance.
The release said that Minister of Public Infra-structure, David Patterson, advised Cabinet that all measures are in place to ensure that all of the pumps and sluices remain in operation to facilitate fast drainage of the floodwaters.
Reports from the major utilities were also presented at the Cabinet meeting. The Guyana Power and Light Incorporated reported that there were power outages in 28 areas during the day. However up to press time, that number had fallen to only one area and a representative of the company said that it was expected that the community’s electricity would be restored before the end of the evening.
The Guyana Water Incorporated has not recorded any compromising of its water resources.
Total losses and the number of persons affected by flooding are yet to be quantified, the release said. One tool the Centre is using to gather data is social media. Residents in affected areas are being advised to share photos of flooded areas and information on the level of the floodwater in their areas or homes.
These can be shared on the Facebook pages of the NEOC, Habitat for Humanity, The Guyana Red Cross Society and the Civil Defence Commis-sion, the release said.
The weather forecast for today indicates overcast conditions during the morning, with light to moderate showers and possible thunderstorms in some areas over the coastal regions, becoming partly sunny in the afternoon with a few light showers. Some areas of Regions 4 and 10 may experience thunder during the afternoon. Granger, who left yesterday for a summit in Brazil, summoned an emergency meeting of the Cabinet at 4 am in light of the intense flooding in Georgetown, East Coast and other coastal areas.
Following that meeting it was agreed that there would be an aerial survey of the coastal areas, regional offices would be contacted and shelters set up. Due to the rising floodwaters threatening NCN’s equipment a decision had to be taken to take all three radio stations and NCN TV off air yesterday morning, Director of Public Infor-mation, Imran Khan said.
Later in the afternoon, GINA said NCN TV and 98.1 FM were back on air and work continued to have VOG and Fresh FM back on air as well.
