Hundreds of residents of St Cuthbert’s Mission situated off the Linden/Soesdyke Highway are stranded after sections of the trail leading to their village were washed away following heavy rainfall in the area.
The community’s toshao, Timothy Andrews, alleges that faulty culvert work may be the cause.
Andrews yesterday posted a video to his Facebook page showing water gushing through a section of the road that was washed away. The section of the damaged road is in the vicinity of the Two Brothers area along the trail. The toshao in speaking with this newspaper said that the particular section that was washed away yesterday first broke away two weeks ago. As such it was decided by the contractor that a culvert would be installed to allow the water to be drained. The culvert was installed within the last two weeks but yesterday’s rains washed it away.
Asked where the water is coming from, Andrews said that it was the nearby savannahs that were flooded as a result of the rain and the water was running off onto the trail and into the Mahaica River.
The section of the road shown in the video was only one of three parts of the trail that have been washed away. Andrews believes that should the rains continue which is likely as precipitation has been predicted for the remainder of the month by the Guyana Meteorological Office, then other sections of the trail are expected to be eroded. He noted that already there are other parts of the trail that have shown signs of erosion.
Andrews was unable to say who the contractor was but explained that prior to the recent construction of the road, a request was made that some of their residents be hired as labourers as part of the project but that was not heeded. The toshao further shared that some of the residents of his village are working on other road construction projects in the hinterland region and so it would be
experienced persons that would have been working on the trail had they been hired.
He noted also that because they traverse the trail on a daily basis, the residents of the mission are knowledgeable as to where the water would run across the trail when the savannahs are flooded. Andrews said that not only were their people not hired but the engineers did not seek their advice. “If they had conferred with the villagers, the road would have been better,” Andrews posited.
In the video, Andrews could be heard questioning how he would be able to get across to the village. When this newspaper got hold of him, the toshao said he had made it home. He explained that the section of the road that was washed away had to be dug into where there was firm ground for vehicles to get across. Sand bags were also seen in a photo that were put there to stop the flow of the water. Some drivers he noted, incurred damage to the bumpers of their cars as a result of trying to cross the broken away section. The toshao who also works part- time as a taxi driver, expressed sadness that his people had to deal with this situation and added that as a driver, he empathises with the other drivers.
“I’m asking the relevant authorities to visit the road as soon as possible because more showers like this will wash way more parts of the road and will leave the villagers and vehicle owners at a disadvantage and in lots of expenses…,” Andrews said.
