The Ministry of Public Infrastructure has one again put out a public advisory imploring persons to take necessary precautions during the spring tide over this weekend.
According to the advisory, the predicted tide indicates above normal levels for the period of August 14th to August 19th and the Sea and River Defence Department considers certain areas to be particularly susceptible to possible flooding as a result of storm surges, which may induce overtopping of river and sea defence structures.
Those areas are: Pomeroon River Banks; San Souci to Sarah and Maria’s Pleasure to Meerzorg, Wakeenaam Island; Cane Field/Amsterdam, Endeavour/ Blenheim, Cane Garden – Leguan Island; Windsor Forest to DeWillem, West Coast Demerara; Parika Market Area and Salem to Sparta, East Bank Essequibo; Water Street, Georgetown; Chapman Grove/ Greenfield, East Coast Demerara; Helena #1 and #2, Mahaica; and Prospect/ Dantzig, Mahaicony.
The Ministry said that the highest tides are expected today at 4:29 pm at a height of 2.95 metres and on Saturday at 5:03 pm at the same height.
In addition to persons living in the aforementioned areas, persons living along the banks of rivers and low-lying coastal areas are also advised to take the necessary precautions against possible flooding. Precaution should be taken by all mariners, including those operating fishing vessels and larger vessels.
The advisory warned against the use of beaches and foreshore areas for recreational purposes during this period.
The Ministry has been challenged by high tides over the past month as they have destroyed important sea defences at Prospect, Mahaicony and surrounding areas.
Recently, spring tides washed away a large section of the recently repaired Prospect sea defences. An estimated 400 metres were destroyed, leaving acres of farmlands under threat from possible flooding.
Chief River and Sea Defence Officer of the Ministry Kevin Samad had stressed that because of natural cyclic erosion, important natural sea defences – mangroves – were washed away, leaving the mud banks and defences vulnerable to the high tides.
However, the Ministry quickly mobilis-ed and diverted its efforts to repair the breach at Prospect, while there is still ongoing works to the vulnerable corridor.
Samad explained that works were being done at Prospect prior to the breach over the weekend but after the situation developed at Dantzig and Columbia last month, the contractor was forced to divert attention to those areas.
“The section that collapsed at Prospect now was an area [where] we had done some emergency works but did not have a chance to put the boulders in front of the sea dam,” he said.
As a result, the Ministry of Finance supplied emergency funding to the tune of $460 million. He said that the funds would first be used to procure additional boulders to build rip rap structures along the vulnerable areas, and for more permanent fixes.
Samad said good weather is anticipated for the month and if the assumption is correct, they will be able to transport additional resources via land. Because of the weather and state of the access road, he noted, they have had to transport 7,500 tonnes of boulders by water.
According to him, there has been rapid erosion ongoing along the 3-kilometre shoreline between Fairfield and Dantzig. He explained that the region has always been protected by natural defences, such as mud buffers and mangroves, but because of the constant erosion the earth embankment has been left exposed. “This has been accelerated during the last couple of spring tides and because of the bad weather, which has been a big factor. The shortest access from the public road to the sea dam is also 2 kilometres and there’s only one access at Fairfield. We have, however, managed to construct another bridge not too far from there,” he had added.
The ministry said A & S General Contractors Inc was awarded a contract to construct 325 metres of permanent rock revetment structure at the Prospect area at a cost of $160 million in order to supplement previous emergency interventions along the Prospect area during the months of March and April.
Despite the constant overtopping and lingering threat, there has been no record of serious flooding of the area or damage to agricultural lands. This was confirmed by Regional Chairman Vickchand Ramphal.
He explained that this was as a result of assistance from the National Drainage and Irrigation Authority (NDIA) in raising the dams around the cultivated areas when they had the initial breach.
“So the farmers are a bit secured now. However, with the current condition of the sea dam, if it is not being fixed in a timely manner they can be further overtopping of the embankment around the dams around the cultivated area,” he explained.
