As residents in the communities of Three Friends, Maria Henrietta and Coomacka struggle to deal with the impact of severe flooding caused by a breach of the tailings pond at the East Montgomery Mines, officials of Bosai Minerals are keen to establish that the company was not responsible.
“A team of engineers from the Ministry of Public Works visited Bosai and were shown the property and discharge pump to the environment. The team expressed their satisfaction that Bosai’s operations were not the cause of the flooding,” Sherry Domer, Bosai Community Relations Officer told Stabroek News last evening.
According to Domer, Bosai’s assessment of the disaster revealed that the cause lies with the blockage of an outflow channel from a mined area belonging to the LINMINE Secretariat/NICIL. She explained that this channel appeared to have been blocked and bridged for access to a scrap metal store, called the “Rehab Area”.
“There are water stains in the mined out area that shows the height to which the water rose. [That height is] currently estimated to be over 15 feet. The elevated water in the catchment rose and eventually washed away the access road that was blocking the exit drain. The sudden release of over 15 ft of water from that mined out area resulted in a tsunami effect into the Yawarabaru, area which overwhelmed the outlet to the Demerara River and resulted in the breaches along its perimeter,” Domer claimed.
The officer expressed sympathy to those in the Three Friends community who have been affected and noted that Bosai is committed to rendering all necessary assistance in the form of equipment and other needed support for remedial works.
Minister of Public Works Juan Edghill last evening could not confirm the company’s claim, while stressing that the government was currently concerned with providing relief rather than establishing culpability.
“I was in Kwakwani today with Ministers [Zulfikar] Mustapha and Vickram [Bharrat] so I’ve not been fully briefed but I know my engineers are out there since last night and I don’t think that we were seeking to establish culpability at this stage. We were seeking to bring relief to people,” he said when contacted.
The minister explained that his understanding is that the area had not been mined for years and the water it held became too much for it and it broke away.
Asked to explain the relief requests made to the ministry from the Community, Edghill explained that the region has moved to provide relief such as hampers but so far he has not received any reports of requests for relocation.
He stressed that while he has received videos showing what appears to be severe flooding, water on land does not say much.
“I will wait on the technical assessment to give us a clear idea of the damage,” the minister explained.
Meanwhile, the Civil Defence Commission head Lieutenant Colonel Kester Craig, told a press conference yesterday that the Regional Chairman Deron Adams has indicated that the support from the Ministry of Public Works and the National Drainage and Irrigation Authority (NDIA) has so far proved sufficient.
Adams told Stabroek News yesterday that both Three Friends and Maria Henrietta were inundated with all residents affected. He could not, however, provide a definitive number for the household impacted.
According to Travis Farose, a resident of the area, there is no longer road access to either of the communities.
“There is no walking or driving, just boats right now,” he explained.
