Minister of Agriculture, Zulfikar Mustapha and Lionel Wordsworth, Chairman of the National Drainage and Irrigation Authority (NDIA), and members of the Civil Defence Commission (CDC) yesterday conducted assessments of flood impacted areas in Essequibo Islands-West Demerara (Region 3).
A release from the Department of Public Information (DPI) said that the Minister of Agriculture and team assessed villages which included Meten-Meer-Zorg, De Willem, De Kinderen and Zeelugt. These hard-hit areas were given assurances by Mustapha that the NDIA will work tirelessly to ensure that mobile pumps are installed and fully operational at De Kinderen and Zeelugt, and main drains in other areas such as Tuschen will be cleaned and desilted.
The release said that the CDC, in collaboration with the Regional Democratic Council and Neighbourhood Democratic Councils, will distribute cleaning hampers to the significantly affected communities of Region 3 this morning. These hampers will aim to assist residents with sanitizing their households and combating any potential health hazards as a result of the flooding.
The Hydrometeorological Office is predicting more rain along Regions 2 to 5 and as a result, residents in low-lying and flooded areas are urged to remain vigilant and take all necessary precautions. The National Emergency Monitoring System remains online 24/7 so that anyone can report flood impacts. The numbers are 592-226-114 and 592-600-7500.
A release from the Ministry of Agriculture said that Mustapha visited some of the homes of residents who were affected to get a first-hand look at the impact of the flooding.
“From the level of the NDIA, two pumps will be sent to these areas. One will be placed permanently at the De Kinderen Sluice and the other will be placed at Zeelugt temporarily until the water recedes. After that, I’ll be coming back to these areas with our engineers to see what interventions can be made so that we can avoid or at least minimize future flooding,” the minister said.
Furthermore, while discussing how pollution continues to contribute to flooding in many communities, Mustapha pleaded with residents to desist from dumping garbage.
“These areas are very low areas and water from the highlands will always accumulate in these low-lying areas. Also, the amount of garbage that we’ve seen in the drainage systems is also contributing to the severe flooding that residents are experiencing. I am therefore pleading with you the residents to desist from throwing garbage into the drains. When these bottles and other things find themselves in the pumps, they cause massive damage to those pumps,” Mustapha said, according to the Ministry of Agriculture.
