Insufficient resources causes flooding in Region 5 – Chairman

By Shemuel Fanfair

Several communities in Region Five (Mahaica/Berbice) became flooded after a period of heavy rainfall on Sunday. The affected areas include Trafalgar, Lovely Loss, Bush Lot, Hope Town, Dundee and Mahaicony. If the current weather persists, residents and farmers alike stand to be affected.
While a number of homes in the region are under threat, several farmlands where animals normally graze have seen high levels of flooding.

The Regional Administration has briefed the Civil Defence Commission (CDC) and the National Drainage and Irrigation Authority (NDIA) which have been collaborating with the Mahaica Mahaicony Abary/Agricultural Development Authority (MMA/ADA) to de-silt the outfall channel to the Trafalgar sluice.
Guyana Times has been informed that a hydraulic pump will be installed to alleviate the flooding.
As the Regional Democratic Council (RDC) continues to monitor the situation, it was noted that “additional excavators” are needed to clean the heavily clogged drains and trenches, especially in residential areas.
To this end, Regional Chairman Vickchand Ramphal has encouraged residents to report any serious flooding to their respective Neighbourhood Democratic Council or the RDC.
On Monday, Ramphal opined that the main risks residents face include loss of crops and livestock, as well as damages to appliances and property.
“The region doesn’t have sufficient resources to undertake the cleaning and de-silting,” the chairman told this newspaper.
Meanwhile, many rice farmers in the Region are still to harvest for the next crop. This follows many months of dry weather that destroyed much of the acreage in the area.
The MMA/ADA is a semi-autonomous agency of the Ministry of Agriculture with responsibility to “manage, operate and maintain all drainage and irrigation works in Region 5.”