Heavy rainfall in the Rupununi has delayed the commencement of works on the Lethem to Aishalton road, which was recently damaged by flash flooding, Chairman of the Region Nine Democratic Council Brian Allicock says.
It is almost two weeks since heavy rains caused flash flooding just outside of Lethem, destroying a culvert and washing away a bridge leading to Aishalton, making the road temporarily impassable.
Allicock had told Stabroek News earlier in the week that the Aishalton Village Council had started “fetching boulders” and other materials to the section where the bridge once stood, to allow vehicles to safely pass, as they were waiting on the contractor to start construction.
However, yesterday he noted that there has been persistent heavy rainfall in the area, which has stalled the reconstruction of the bridge and culverts that were damaged.
“It’s not completed as yet because [the contractor] do not want to start filling up the hole while the rain continues to fall. However, all the equipment and materials are on the ground. I went up there not too long and we had to use the bypass still that was made by the people themselves”, he said.
Allicock noted that he currently isn’t in Lethem, but when he left, there was heavy rainfall. “We can’t fix a road in the rain”, he noted, but said that the works will not take more than a day since they only have to repair the culvert and fix the bridge by filling and compacting it with materials.
“The waters are coming in but no flooding as yet. Parts of the savannahs where there’s loam road has a lot of slush but persons aren’t sinking. It’s just very wet and slushy,” he said, while noting that they are paying close attention to the situation.
Toshao of Aishalton, Michael Thomas, had explained that even though there was another access road to the community, it is in a deplorable state and the journey takes longer, which would result in travellers having to spend more to reach Aishalton.
