Floodwaters receding at Black Bush Polder following regional intervention – Chairman

Floodwaters are receding off of the land in Black Bush Polder as interventions have been made by authorities. This is according to Region Six (East Berbice-Corentyne) Chairman David Armogan.
The flooding of all four polders was as a result of days of rainfall which started during the last week of May.
This resulted in floods in some parts of the region but the worst hit was Black Bush Polder, especially Lesbeholden.

According to Armogan, Lesbeholden was most affected since the sluice at Adventure was silted and could not have been cleared until rains started to fall.
“And secondly, there was no pump at Adventure at the time when the rain started to fall. That’s basically two reasons why you have a high level of water in the Lesbeholden area, so the farmers came out and protested because we had anticipated that a pump should have been put there prior to the beginning of the rainfall because your rainfall was predicted and so action should have been taken by the relevant authorities which in this case would be the National Drainage and Irrigation Authority,” Armogan added.
A pump has since been installed at Adventure and the outfall channel is being dug.
He noted that with the pump being there now and with the outfall being dug it is expected that residents of Lesbeholden would have some relief.
Meanwhile, at Number 43 Village there are two pumps at the sluice which drains Yakasari.
Both pumps at Number 43 Village are operable and the sluice is also operable.
“It is the same problem with the sluice there as well; the sluice needs to be desilted and that is happening right now. There is a contractor working there and both pumps are working. Then there is another pump at Eversham that drains Mibicuri.
That pump is also operable and there is also another excavator working here to desilt that sluice,” the regional chairman said.
According to him, those interventions should see all of the water being removed from the land.
However, he noted that at Yakusari more needs to be done to ensure those residents get fast drainage.
According to the regional chairman, during his visit to the residential areas at Yakusari he witnesses heavy flooding.
“That is because there needs to be some work on the internal drainage system because the internal grid system in the Black Bush Polder area was in very good shape as well. The water would have been able to move out of the residential area and come into the main area but unfortunately, we have some areas where some of the trenches need to be cleaned. The Black Bush NDC is working to ensure that those internal drains are cleaned,” he noted.
One of the other problems compounding the Yakasari area is the backflow of water coming in from the 15-Goodhope area.
“That is normally the case coming through the White Koker. This water would normally come through Yakasari and go through 43 but unfortunately, with the amount of water coming through there, you find that the water is backing up. You know once it comes into the system, it goes through the White Koker and backs up into the Yakasari area. That is why you see so much of water in the back areas of Yakasari,” Armogan pointed out. (G4)