Spring tides over the last few days have washed away a large section of the recently repaired Prospect, Mahaicony sea defence and Minister of Public Infrastructure David Patterson says that his ministry has already applied for emergency funding to execute rehabilitative works.
An estimated 400 metres of sea defence was destroyed and farmers have said that other sections of the dam separating the sea from farmlands are under threat.
Last night, Patterson told this newspaper that “we have applied and asked for emergency funding to continue the work before another breach opens. It has to be very soon…”
He explained that at present, the area under threat needs attention urgently since it is only an earth wall working as a partition between the sea and farmlands. Most of the mangrove forest, which has served as a defence for years, recently washed way leaving a mud surface behind.
“It is only earth and every spring tide that comes, it takes a bit more of the earth and the embankment away. It is an emergency and we have to get there urgently,” he emphasised.
A video seen by this newspaper showed that the materials used to seal the breach were completely washed way.
Stabroek News was told that there have been minor breaches at other recently sealed sections at Dantzig and Columbia but those were quickly repaired.
Despite the threat, farmers were happy to report that none of the lands being used for rice cultivation were affected.
On Tuesday, the Ministry of Public Infrastructure had issued an advisory informing residents of Prospect/Fairfield, Mahaicony and other riverain areas to take precautions against the spring tide.
The highest tides were predicted to be on August 2 at 4:30 am at a height of 3.28 metres and on August 3, at 5:19 am at a height of 3.29 metres.
While the damage during this spring tide has been minimal, residents and farmers are urging the officials to work and deploy resources faster to affected areas and seal the breaches. Some believe that the next spring tide is expected later this month.
Over the past weeks, the ministry has been working to seal the breaches along the Mahaicony coastline.
In a press release, the ministry had said that 2,000 tonnes of boulders were delivered to vulnerable sections at Prospect and Broomhall for placement along the sea dam. It was also pointed out that a new tender was to be advertised for phase two construction of rip-raps along the stretch.
“Phase 1 was already awarded and includes for the construction of 325 metres, so the total length of works is 675 metres which is over 1,200 feet works,” the release said.
In June, Regional Chairman Vickchand Ramphal had highlighted the rapid erosion taking place along the dam.
“It caused about 300 feet of erosion that led to a break. After that had happened, some remedial works were done, temporary remedial works by the River and Sea Defence Department [of the Ministry of Public Infrastructure] and that started about six weeks ago,” he said, when a section of the Prospect sea defence had broken away.
Last Monday, Stabroek News reported that affected areas in Dantzig and Columbia on the East Coast of Demerara that were once compromised, were repaired and excavators were working to reinforce areas observed to be eroding.
At the breach in Dantzig, engineers were forced to use discarded sugarcane pontoons along with boulders and plastic sea defence liners for the repairs.
Cleveland Ramsammy, a farmer of Fairfield, said, “They will have to strengthen up the sea defence. I think the current of the water is too strong and the water will look for weak spots to penetrate. The area is getting porous and if we don’t have a good sea defence, the force of the water will damage everything.”
