While most of Guyana was ringing in Christmas Day in celebration, residents of Endeavour, Leguan were faced with the damage caused by floodwaters and the prospect of more due to repairs to a sluice door being left incomplete.
Up until minutes after six last evening, the gravity flow system was being used to drain the area of floodwater since there were no irrigation pumps available.
A team of Public Infrastructure workers were working to complete the work left by the contractor before the next high tide, which was scheduled for 3.46 am this morning.
Regional Engineer Seenarine Nandram told Stabroek News that they were fervently working to ensure the sluice door was in place before the next high tide. “The land got flooded because of the failure of the koker door. We’re just trying to close the safety door but to be able to do so we have to install the lifting and dropping mechanism. The NDIA [National Drainage and Irrigation Authority] is the one responsible for getting this fixed but I can’t say why they are not here. I already informed the foreman around three this afternoon. I want to think that the NDC [Neighbourhood Democratic Council] is responsible for the situation we are currently facing. I see they were expecting it to fail because a new door was left on site….,” Nandram said.
He along with NDC councillor Sunil Sharma, members of the Ministry of Public Infrastructure Community Organized for the Restoration of the Environment (C.O.R.E) group and members of the Sea and River Defence Department were on site draining floodwaters when this newspaper contacted him.
Nandram said that the kokers are maintained by the NDC and therefore it should have been fixed earlier instead of being left for the last minute. Whether or not the contracted company had planned on returning today to install the second door, the man said he couldn’t leave it until today and needed to do what could be done avoid any further flooding. According to Nandram, while the job was not theirs, something needed to be done.
More than three hours after a call was placed to the NDIA foreman, no one had turned up to check the situation.
Earlier in the day, workers of Khan’s Construction and Transportation Company were working on installing a new sluice door. No one could say for sure why work was left incomplete. By 2 pm, when the high tide came in, the workers had already left the site and when Nandram got there around 2 pm, there was no one there.
Prior to talking with the engineer, Stabroek News had contacted Region Three’s Chairman Julius Faerber, who had no inkling of the situation. Vice-Chairman Inshaan Ayube, who lives on the island, also said that he was not aware and was just returning to the island. He said he would be visiting the site within the next hour.
“I am 57 years old. I come here to live when I was seven and I never see so much water all the time I’ve been here. I planned to start baking at two this afternoon but instead I had to leave off the baking and start to bail out water from the house. I had three inches of water in the house. My father is 85 and my brother is 60. They live with me but they can’t help do much. The neighbours come over and help put sandbags by the door but by the time they reach back to their house, their fridge in water. I feel like screaming. I started crying when water start coming in the house. We already clean for the holidays,” resident Lalita Basdeo lamented.
Poultry at the back
As floodwaters were rising, Lalita was busy trying to get the water out of her house and she forgot about her poultry at the back. When she remembered them, they were already standing in the flood. She had to dry her eight ducklings and move her ducks and chickens. Two bags of paddy she kept to feed the chicken were both soaked.
Basdeo said she feared for neighbours in lower lying areas of the village and mentioned one man who had more than a hundred meat birds whose pens were under water. She noted also that she only has a bottom flat and so had nowhere to move her appliances and furniture if more flooding occurred.
“They put in new door but it’s not working as yet because it has no rope or something to send it down. If this is not taken care of now, we will have to deal with flood over the holiday. I can’t even cook dinner. I got to eat bread and tea and countryside people like them roti and curry…,” she added.
Meanwhile, Shemeiza Gulambeen said that at the back where she kept her poultry and goats the water was waist deep. She specifically mentioned where she kept her goats, while noting that when she got to them they were almost drowning and had to be moved to an old house next door that is vacant.
Floodwaters had reached a height of a foot and a half in her house despite her putting sandbags at the door to prevent the water from getting in. By the time she had taken care of her poultry and the goats and returned to move her fridge, stove and washing machine upstairs, the water began to recede. “Right now I’m having a headache. I clean up fuh Christmas and now I got to do it all over again,” she stressed.
Another resident, Seenarine Gobin, said that there have been several incidents with the door, including the door’s chain bursting at one time. Gobin voiced his disappointment at the current situation, while adding that whenever the ranger from the NDC visits, he doesn’t inspect the koker as he should and would just pass by. The problem with the door could have been dealt with earlier, he added.
Gobin also said that the acting overseer, when contacted, did not respond to check what was happening and instead said he would send someone, who residents were still awaiting.
In wake of the flooding, Gobin said he try to get his home cleaned once again, even if it meant cleaning into the night.
