Flood-affected Black Bush residents appeal for help

…NDIA machines deployed, CDC to distribute relief hampers

Residents and farmers from Yakusari, Johanna, Mibicuri and Lesbeholden, Black Bush Polder, Corentyne, Berbice, Region Six (East Berbice-Corentyne) who suffered losses as a result of continuous rainfall over the past few days, on Wednesday, met with Prime Minister Mark Phillips and Agriculture Minister Zulfikar Mustapha.
The officials were at the time conducting an outreach to flood-affected areas to assess the damage and engage residents on the way forward.
In a statement on Wednesday evening, the Agriculture Ministry said that farmers who attended the meeting said that their fields and farms were flooded. A number of poultry farmers too related that most of their animals had died because of the flooding.

Prime Minister Mark Phillips and Agriculture Minister Zulfikar Mustapha engaging residents

Minister Mustapha while offering comments said the high intensity of rainfall has been putting a strain on the drainage system. He also said that his Ministry, through the various agencies, would be working with those affected to offer assistance.
“People are very agitated and I want to assure them that Government will put all systems in place to ensure that this matter is resolved as soon as possible. Although we are working to boost our drainage system by complementing it with additional pumps, the high intensity of rainfall has been putting a strain on that system,” he said, adding that the Ministry would be installing additional pumps in Black Bush Polder in hopes that those pumps could bring some amount of relief to residents.
“We are also putting other systems in place to prevent water in the backlands from draining into the residential areas. I’ve also instructed the Guyana Rice Development Board (GRDB); the National Agriculture Research (NAREI) and Extension Institute (NAREI), and the Guyana Livestock Development Authority (GLDA) to carry out a comprehensive assessment of the losses in the entire Black Bush Polder so that we can start giving some sort of assistance, because many persons experienced losses in livestock, cash crops, and rice. I’d like to make a commitment here that we’ll try as much as possible to assist those who suffered losses,” Mustapha said.
Residents also told the visiting team that although machines were sent to execute works in the area some time ago, some of the works were not done because persons have occupied the reserves.
Mustapha informed residents that the National Drainage and Irrigation Authority (NDIA) would be deploying machines to complete all of the outstanding works.
Meanwhile, the Prime Minister informed residents that the Civil Defence Commission (CDC) would be back in the area to distribute flood-relief hampers to every household that was affected.
“This is an unusual amount of rainfall that has affected many areas across the country. You’ve heard, in terms of relief, we will have the Civil Defence Commission (CDC) coming into the area with some food and sanitation hampers to distribute to every household from Saturday. Our decisions today are aimed at bringing relief to the people who are suffering in the shortest possible time,” Phillips said.
The residents were also informed that the Government has allocated funds to the Water Users’ Association to execute its mandate of clearing and maintaining drains and canals.
“Over $140 million was allocated for works to be done here. Also, many contractors who were owed for works carried out under the previous Administration, Cabinet has approved those payments which amounted to $15 million,” the Minister told residents.