Several parts of the Pomeroon remain flooded from an unusually high spring tide and poor infrastructure and residents want intervention from the Regional Democratic Council (RDC).
“We have just found out from one of the rangers that one of the kokers have no door so I was saying water was coming in all the time but it’s been like that for several years and it was reported and so far nothing has ever happened,” Chairperson of the Charity/Urasara Neighbourhood Democratic Council (NDC) Beatrice Mittelholzer told Stabroek News on Wednesday, highlighting that in addition to the recent sporadic flooding that was caused by the high tides, the heavy rainfall was adding to the farmers’ and residents’ woes.
Mittelholzer said that the Charity Squatting area, the Amazon Area, Caiburi Creek, Siriki and Jacklow are severely affected.
She said that the issues have been reported to the Pomeroon/Supenaam RDC and she had asked the Regional Executive Officer (REO) several times to assist them in digging the main canal.
“We have to dig the main canal. It’s bushy and has no drainage and because of that the water cannot flow,” she said, pointing out that the vegetation is so rampant that it has started to grow on the road. Mittelholzer pointed out that if the main canal is not cleaned properly then the area will always be flood-prone.
“We have this new scheme and you can’t even call it a scheme cause it looks like a squatting area with the condition it in. it’s sad to see the whole place under water and people are just living, it really need attention,” she said, stating that she cannot count how many persons are being affected by the flooding. She highlighted that the NDC has been trying tirelessly to help increase drainage with one of their small excavators but they have not made much progress. “Is Charity a forgotten place?” she questioned.
Another farmer said that in all his years of farming cash crops and other permanent crops he has never experienced a spring tide as high as the last one.
“In my living memory of the Pomeroon we have never witnessed a Spring Tide as the new moon one that passed and the dams have never overtopped,” the farmer said, stating that the tide that lasted for four days, overtopped the river dams and flooded the majority of the farm lands. However, he said that the farmers did not wait for the authorities to intervene and started to repair the dam by themselves in hopes of preventing another overtopping.
Another farmer explained that while it was not as bad in her area, the river lacks a draft that could trigger the self-activating koker and as such the water is not leaving the land.
“The rainy season is not over and just beginning. To be honest the authorities can’t do anything much but help build up the front dam and clean up the canal so the water can flow properly,” she said, pointing out that in addition to those things, the river mouth needs to be desilted so that the river can have a proper draft. However, she acknowledge that such a project would take a tremendous amount of effort and money to start and complete.
Vilma DaSilva, a councillor on the NDC, who is also a farmer, stated that several areas are still under water and blamed it on the lack of drainage and the river being “choked”. She said so far she has suffered over $200,000 in losses to her cash crop. “The water gonna go off the land one day and the next day when the rain fall it’s gonna come back up again,” she added.
In addition to the flooding, the farmers and residents have also complained about a mosquito infestation that has been developing because of the vegetation. “It’s not just the water that affecting we, they got the mosquitoes that all over and you can’t even go in your farmlands sometimes. And especially in the night its worse. We just want them to come and clean the canal so we can get some relief,” the woman added.
Regional Chairman Devanand Ramdatt stated on Wednesday that MIttelholzer had requested, several times, the region’s assistance in dealing with the canal but it had not been approved by the REO, Rupert Hopkinson. He explained that the topic had come up at the last two RDC meetings but still went unheeded.
When Stabroek News contacted Mittelholzer yesterday to find out whether the situation had eased up, she said that it was getting worse, given the fact that it was raining.
“My yard right now under water and still flooded and I don’t know what’s going to happen if it continue like this. Is not one problem we had to deal with but another and we fed up with this place like this,” she stated.
Stabroek News tried to contact the REO for a comment to no avail.
Head of the National Drainage and Irrigation Authority (NDIA) Frederick Flatts told Stabroek News on Wednesday that the area has been experiencing problems for the last 30 years since the Pomeroon is not effectively drained. “What we do is (raise) the level of the dam in some areas and the NDIA has done some of that in the past,” he said, stating that the engineers are supposed to be going into the area in the coming week to assess the areas that have been affected and where works need to be done. Based on the assessment a decision will be made. “It would not cover the entire Pomeroon, that will need a project, but the weak areas will be looked at,” he said.
