Several communities across the country are inundated. Almost every region has been severely affected by floods. Heavy rainfall and high tides have plunged communities into watery chaos. Thousands of Guyanese are grappling with the loss of property, security and peace of mind. The rising cost of living, the pandemic and other issues are now intensified by people being displaced or made to live in risky situations due to widespread flooding. Those of us on dry grounds who may be only observing what is happening from the news or videos and pictures shared on social media, should be concerned. In low-lying coastal regions, we are in constant risk. We remember the devastation of the 2005 floods. It is imperative that we advocate for the strengthening of our sea defences and to fortify all measures in place to prevent our communities from collapsing in the watery disasters.
Flooding may result in communities becoming uninhabitable if the land is submerged for too long, or worse, if the water never recedes. We must ponder on the realities of climate change and the threats it poses to our country. With the sea levels rising and much of our country being below sea level our vulnerabilities are evident and in time to come many communities in this country may no longer exist. We can assume that what we are witnessing will only get worse with time.
I watched a video of a boat drifting on the waters in Kwakwani. The video gave us a glimpse of the devastation. They seemed to be sailing on a river. The voice narrating said that in her sixty years she had never witnessed a flood of that magnitude in Kwakwani. But the riverine area is prone to floods and, therefore, the issue is not new. One might wonder why residents have not relocated to higher grounds. But maybe some people were skeptical about moving because of the history of the living in the area. Maybe some did not have options.
Though the 2005 floods were devastating, what we are seeing in Kwakwani seems almost unreal. There is as much as 8 feet of water and some homes have been submerged. The people have had to flee to shelters and the homes of relatives and friends. Their homes are left drenched in the nature’s watery fury. Will those affected demand that they be given the opportunity to move to higher grounds? Will they abandon the area? What will become of those who have lost everything? Will there be assistance to help people rebuild? After the waters have receded it is not flood relief alone in the form of food, water and clothing that will help the people recover. There must be a comprehensive plan to find solutions to mitigate the issues with flooding in Kwakwani. But it may be an impossible task to save the area from flooding when the rains cannot be controlled, or the tide or the rivers overflowing.
In other regions we have also seen the devastation caused by the flooding. We have watched cattle standing and walking in the water because fields are flooded in Region 6. We have seen terrifying images of snakes in living spaces. There are images of snakes with their bodies coiled around animals they have killed. We have seen men and women knee deep and waist deep wading through the waters that are polluted. When one considers all the garbage and sewage in the water, the threat of water-borne diseases is also a frightening thought. During the 2005 floods people died of leptospirosis. With the COVID numbers and deaths still rising, we can only hope that the hell here will not escalate with water borne diseases brought on by the floods and further devastate our communities.
The Civil Defence Commission reported that almost 7000 households have been affected. With no certainty as to when the waters will recede in places like Kwakwani and with more expected rainfall there is no telling when the nightmare will end. The Hydromet Office has been reporting unusually high rainfall since December last year according to officials in an interview I viewed on the National Communication Network. La Niña was cited as being responsible for the changes in weather patterns.
According to the World Meteorological Organisation, “La Niña refers to the large-scale cooling of the ocean surface temperatures in the central and eastern equatorial Pacific Ocean, coupled with changes in the tropical atmospheric circulation, namely winds, pressure and rainfall. It usually has the opposite impacts on weather and climate as El Niño, which is the warm phase of the so-called El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO).
“El Niño and La Niña are major, naturally occurring drivers of the Earth’s climate system. But all naturally occurring climate events now take place in against a background of human-induced climate change which is exacerbating extreme weather and affecting the water cycle,” said WMO Secretary-General Professor Petteri Taalas.
The floods have erased memories, weakened the structures on which the people’s home are built and will leave many in debt and a state of despair.
The floods should remind us of our vulnerabilities as human beings. Some of us may think ourselves invincible but when the Mother Nature rebels and releases her fury there is little we can do. We may try, but we cannot stop the sun from rising or setting, the rains will come, and the sea will rise. We have built and destroyed simultaneously, and our carelessness and excess will continue to cost us.
