Residents of Linden and Black Bush Polder are calling on the government to look into providing relief following the deep flooding in their communities this week.
Mayor of Linden, Sharma Raheem Solomon in a video posted to his Facebook page stressed that residents are in need of compensation as they have suffered massive losses.
The Civil Defence Commission (CDC) on Thursday reported that over 300 Region 10 households have been affected by rain-fuelled flooding, and Solomon said that every constituency was affected.
He said that they are compiling data as to the losses residents have suffered while some persons were in need of shelter. Additionally, he said that they had distributed hampers and in some instances “cash in hand”.
“At this moment we are saying like every other community when they have a disaster we see the President, we see all these ministers by now they should have been here but not only to come but to come with those resources, those resources that through their negligence that they must now give compensation to people who suffered losses, all material losses, whether electronic, animal, furnishing should be given back and should be compensated”, he asserted.
He said that it was important to understand that outside of the works being carried out by the CDC and the National Drainage and Irrigation Authority (NDIA), the PPP/C as a government has not provided the “resources and the request made by the council. The council as I said earlier made these request for town week exercise and we weren’t given these resources…”
Solomon said that in April they had requested support from the government to clean various areas however this was not provided.
According to Solomon, if the Linden Town week clean up exercise was supported by the government then the communities would have been cleaned up, instead he said that into the rainy season, the government opted for a flag-raising exercise where “they invested $77m in the community on infrastructural works, on a whole lot a drainage and clearing but I can tell you this that meant absolutely nothing because at one hour of rain the flooding started and at one night of rain we are still witnessing these sorts of devastation.”
He continued, “However they went about a cleaning exercise into the rainy season for over $77m that not only proved ineffective but it also is responsible for some of the current situation that we see.”
According to Solomon, the entire of Kara Kara Retrieve is flooded as several of the creeks have not been cleared and are incomplete. “Outside of those areas where they refused to invest that $77m, the areas where they placed that money for example at the back of sports club its rapidly eroding.”
Alleys and valleys
Giving an update on the flooding situation, Solomon said, “We were in the alleys and the valleys and today no community is flooded because the cleaning has started so when we had said to the government in April to clean up they thought it was for town week, instead of cleaning it then they held back that cleaning in the rainy season which makes no sense now.”
“So we know that the government in a rapidly deployable way can bring resources to alleviate some of the issues that will cause flooding and that is happening now so we hope that that continues but not only continues in terms of maintenance but corrective works that were done insufficient should now be completed such as the areas around MacKenzie Sports Club, and the installation of proper and right infrastructure should now be done.”
Meanwhile, on Thursday travel between Linden and Lethem was greatly affected by storm surges which sliced the trail and swamped crossings. However, the Ministry of Public Works yesterday said that light traffic had begun to traverse the Kurupukari/Annai Stretch of the Linden to Lethem Trail. “This development follows swift actions taken to address the infrastructural concerns in the area, including the immediate repair of significant erosion issues identified during recent site visits led by Minister within the Ministry of Public Works, Hon. Deodat Indar. Contractors were instructed to widen channels for better water discharge, and MMC has been actively stockpiling materials for the comprehensive repair of the washout bridge.”
They noted, that further updates will be provided as the repair and restoration continues.
Protested
Meanwhile, farmers in Black Bush Polder yesterday protested in front of the Adventure, Corentyne entrance calling on the government for support.
Basdeo Shri Ram, a farmer of Lesbeholden, who has 50 acres in rice and 4 acres in cash crops, said, “We sow paddy like a week ago now, the water so high in the canal it is not receding, the cash crop it is on a level where the water passing through and the plants always float out.”
According to Ram, he has about 300 papaya trees and 200 sweet pepper trees that are currently affected. For the pepper alone he estimated his losses to be about $1m.
Ram said that while they reported their losses to the local authorities nothing much has been done, “the authority in Black Bush do well know that there is major flooding in the entire polder not only Lesbeholden.”
Another farmer, Tiwari Bisham, who has 14 acre of rice currently explained that the “twelve-day old rice duck under water.”
He said, “Me pump out water two day and two night and it’s no kind of rain to say big flood, the channel was causing that and me get 1080 root bora that deh under water sap, the water deh pon am, so me rice and me cash crop deh under water, the twelve day rice na show yet.”
Mukesh Persaud Mani explained that while he was able to cut some of his rice the rain has stopped him from cutting the remain acres. “The water so big me can’t cut the rice so the rice yellow now, the water too much pon the rice.”
“Right now me na know wa fa do because the water so big, me na know wah the assistance me can get. The water can’t pump out pon the land. If the channel run and the water keep down me can get some of the rice out to clear me expense.”
The farmers who held placards saying ‘No response to farmer no vote’, and ‘No response no vote’ are calling on government officials to visit their communities to have a firsthand look at the situation and their losses.
Meanwhile, a post from the Region Six Vice Chairman, Zamal Hussain of Region Six yesterday said that he met with the Black Bush Polder farmers where “he apprised them of the multiple interventions that are being made to deal with the flooding situation. In addition to the installation of a mobile pump, several channels are also being cleared while works are continuing throughout the various polders.”
