Heavy rainfall continues to slow the draining of floodwater from the Mahaicony Creek as the MMA-ADA has exhausted all of its options in assisting with the situation.
“Me just come out of the back dam and I had to tek a bucket and throw mud on the dams and tie it because they starting to run over and the road even worse cause you can’t get tractor in the rice field,” Chabinauth Deolall from Gordon Table, Mahaicony Creek told Stabroek News yesterday, pointing out that because of the heavy rainfall the floodwater had not receded much.
Shanny (only name given) from Pine Ground, Mahaicony Creek, who had almost a foot of water in her yard and three times more on the land, explained to Stabroek News that the water had gone down slightly on Saturday but because of the intense rain yesterday it was beginning to rise again.
“Well I could walk in my yard now because it went down a little since Saturday but the rain fall nuff, nuff and it starting to rise back. The pen still duck in the yard and they got nuff water still to go down,” she said, stating that her only worry is the rising tides that might make it even worse. “I just hoping that that tides don’t come too high and bring more water cause it ain’t looking like the rain easing up anytime soon,” she added.
While the floodwater in some areas is moving at a turtle’s pace, other areas remain the same and have seen even higher levels over the weekend in the areas farther up the river.
“It raise about two inches in me yard over the weekend. It was going down and as soon as the rain fall it raise up back so me ain’t know what to do or what they [MMA-ADA and NDIA] could do at this point,” Deolall said.
However, while the farmers were calling on the authorities to do more, most of them related that at this point in time there is little that can be done and the water will only recede if the rainfall ceases.
“Well they open the koker [at Mora Point] and the mouth and the koker is the only two places the water does come out of so if it ain’t going anywhere with those two then nothing nobody else do gonna help,” the man explained.
General Manager of the MMA-ADA, Aubrey Charles had explained to Stabroek News that they did not want to fully open the Mora Point koker and risk fulling the irrigation channels that the water would’ve led to but they had to take the risk.
“We didn’t want to open it fully because the canal it leads to, the Jagdeo canal, is the main irrigation canal (for) the rice lands and if it fills and the tide rises then farmers wouldn’t be able to let out water off of their farmlands but we did and we are monitoring the situation,” Charles said, explaining that even though the koker was open the water was not going down quickly because of the amount of water that was flowing down the river.
“Let me tell you something, that koker there can’t do anything significant to the river, is the rain that has to stop for it to make a difference,” he added.
Phase Two
Charles explained that the MMA-ADA Phase Two, which has been in the planning for decades, would make a big difference to drainage in Region Five.
Charles said, “Initially we had some proposals by our engineers and we have to do a feasibility study on it [phase two] but the proposals were to dam the Mahaicony River and construct and extend the current conservancy dam.” He pointed out that the current conservancy stands at approximately 168 square miles and if phase two were to be completed it would increase to 230 square miles. Charles added that Phase two would be divided into several parts that will also see the construction of other main irrigation canals and structures that would greatly assist with getting water to the Atlantic.
“I think it would greatly decrease the flooding because the conservancy would be able to hold and capture more water so whatever is flowing down the new and improved system we would be able to easily deal with,” Charles said, explaining that Minister of Agriculture Noel Holder is currently seeking international funding to start the second phase.
Over the past few weeks Moraikobai in the upper reaches of the Mahaicony has been hard-hit by flooding and downstream communities were also later affected. The flooding also spread to areas on the coast such as Trafalgar, Lovely Lass, Number 29, 30 and 31 villages. On the coast the flooding was exacerbated by non-functioning pumps and silted up outfalls. (Dhanash Ramroop)
