Agriculture Minister Zulfikar Mustapha yesterday distributed hampers to residents of Providence and Peters Hall on the East Bank of Demerara.
A statement from the Ministry of Agriculture said that during the visit, the minister gave an update on some of the immediate interventions to combat the flooding due to continuous rainfall. While engaging with members of the media, Mustapha said that the high intensity rainfall caused the flooding but that government was working to strengthen the drainage system. Speaking specifically to the situation along the East Bank of Demerara, he said Provi-dence and Peters Hall were severely affected and residents sought assistance with cleaning and grocery hampers.
“As a result of the flooding, many persons lost groceries and other items. So I am here today to distribute grocery hampers. The CDC also distributed hampers with cleaning agents yesterday. When we were here last Saturday, we said systems would be put in place to minimize the flooding. We did so and now most of the areas are dry. With these interventions, persons should not experience any flooding for the rest of the season,” the minister said.
As it relates to interventions to combat flooding in vulnerable areas along the East Bank of Demerara, the press statement said the National Drainage and Irrigation Authority (NDIA) has engaged the Neighbourhood Demo-cratic Councils and meaningful solutions are being explored. “We are working to put systems in place so that we can have permanent solutions to flooding here. I’ve asked the NDC to submit a programme so that we can look at desilting the major canals in the area,” the statement quoted the minister as saying.
“A 40 cu sec pump at the Peters Hall sluice capable of pumping 21,000 gallons of water per minute will complement the drainage system so we should not have any major flooding in this area. Pumps were also installed in other areas on the East Bank of Demerara so we’ll continue to monitor the situation within those areas,” he added.
Last Saturday, sections of Peters Hall and Provi-dence were flooded following hours of rainfall. Many homes were inundated which prompted officials from the NDIA to deploy mobile pumps to complement the drainage capacity of the Peters Hall sluice. As of Tuesday, most of the affected areas were drained following interventions by the Ministry.
According to the Minis-try of Agriculture’s statement, approximately 300 hampers containing essential food items were distributed to affected households.
