Over a hundred residents of Little Diamond, East Bank Demerara are counting their losses from flash flooding, which has been blamed on the negligence of an excavator operator working on a newly-constructed sluice.
Residents of the community were awakened after 3 am yesterday to shouts alerting them of water rushing into their homes. “I hear this water fall like… I keep hearing shhhh so I said is rain, I gon’ sleep some more. As soon as I about to fall back in a doze, I hear my neighbour shouting ‘Bibi water coming in we house.’ I jump up and by time I open the door water all over, it just keep rising,” Bibi Zoreena told Stabroek News.
While it was the fourth breach that has occurred since the construction of the sluice began, the residents said it resulted in the worst flooding of its type.
Stabroek News understands that an excavator that was deployed to construct a new dam around the sluice to function as a river defence got stuck. The depression weakened the dam, which was eventually washed away.
According to the residents, since Sunday morning they informed the excavator operators of the breach but they failed to seal it properly. They alerted them because the yards and homes of some villagers residing close to the river were flooded.
They were later paid a visit by the Civil Defence Commission but by then the water had receded and no damage was recorded. Nonetheless, they were provided with cleaning supplies.
Chief Engineer at BK International Ghanie Shaw yesterday told Stabroek News that since works began yesterday morning, they have managed to seal the breach and strengthen the river defence dam. He noted that the next phase of the project is to encage boulders and place them in front of the dam, a move that will significant reduce the force of rising tides. “We have these large baskets that we will fill with boulders and place them to further strengthen the dam against forceful tides,” Shaw explained.
When Stabroek News visited the community, Zoreena and many other villagers were observed engaged in cleaning up.
‘What are we working for?’
Zoreena told Stabroek News that on Sunday her yard was filled with water but she was fortunate that the water did not seep into her home.
“What are we working for? To buy back new mattress and fridge because this is not the first time we are flooded. Old Year’s Day we got flood—all my carpets were soaked… my mattress was damage and the fridge was soaked. This time the fridge, chair, all we clothes soak up in the water. We didn’t had chance to do anything,” she lamented.
The woman echoed the sentiments of other villagers, who said that it has been difficult to replace damaged items. In a unified voice they called for compensation as the expenses left behind after the floods are high.
Habeed Franklin, who spoke with the Department of Public Information (DPI) during a ministerial visit, related that there was a small breach in the dam on Sunday. However, he noted that when residents informed the operator that the water was rising, no effort was made to address the situation.
“They dig it out and left the dam just like that and it break yesterday [Sunday]. Yesterday afternoon they come and… when they dig out the machine the thing breach and they never fix it back. Now, this morning it’s the same thing happen again. The day before yesterday that same machine de bruk down. They send for a machine. The machine tek it out. They were supposed to block back the sea defence. They never did that. Yesterday when these people place flood out and we tell the excavator operator that these people place flood out, he said is just the dam get water, nobody else place ain’t get water. This morning when he come now and see wuh people de talking about, he ain’t say nothing,” Franklin said.
A woman related that the water was knee-high and in some other low-lying places it was close to waist-high.
“All my washing machine, chair set, carpets, everything that was on the floor soak up. I don’t know what will work and what won’t work because I didn’t put it on yet,” the woman related.
A man who lives in the same yard with Zoreena told this newspaper that he was keeping watch since he was told the tide will return higher.
“I lie down in this hammock and watching TV but I fell in a sleep and next thing I hear my partner on the road shouting ’Water! Water!’ When I open the door, water and it just keep coming up,” he related.
The man, who is a construction worker, related that some of his tools were covered in water. In the last major flood, which occurred on Old Year’s Day, he lost his electric saw after it was damaged by floodwater.
Livestock losses
Several livestock farmers in the area related that they were forced to move their animals to higher ground and even let them out of their yards.
Ramesh Singh, one of the affected farmers, related that he lost several chickens and ducks from his yard as the water swept them away.
“Every time they …bring sanitisers and cleaning things but we can’t survive on that. People are minding these animals for living. All the feed is destroyed and the animals die out. They need to give us some sort of compensation,” he asserted.
Meanwhile, a farmer who was also affected by the flooding estimated his losses at over $100,000 as his chickens died and the feed stored for his pigs was soaked in the floodwater.
During the course of the day, the affected residents were visited by Prime Minister Mark Phillips, Minister of Agriculture Zulfikar Mustapha and Ministers of Public Works Juan Edghill and Deodat Indar.
Mustapha was quoted by DPI as saying that the contractor and his workers should have been more aggressive in their efforts to fix the initial breach in the dam.
“Based on what residents are saying, the breach was caused by the negligence of the operator who was hired by the contractor currently executing the works. Residents reported that there was a machine on the dam that was built and it seems as though that machine had some issues, and when attempts were made to remove the machine that resulted in the breach. Yesterday there was a first breach and attempts were made to fix it. Now today, over 100 houses were flooded. Persons lost a lot of household appliances. I believe the contractor should’ve been more aggressive in his attempt to rectify the initial breach. Apparently, yesterday, when there were signs of the breach and residents, informed the operator, nothing much was done to stop it and as a result this morning we had this incident,” Mustapha said.
