Ahead of the rainy season due in the months of May and June, the Mayor and City Council (M&CC) is making preparations to ensure that Georgetown, the capital city, does not come under full attack by floods.
Drainage works being done on the La Penitence drainage channel earlier this month
This is according to the Public Relations Officer (PRO) of City Hall, Debra Lewis, who in an exclusive interview with Guyana Times on Saturday explained that these works would include exhaustive efforts to fix deficient pumps.
According to her, two pumps in the city are presently down but noted that one is expected to be up and running by today.
Lewis said that Georgetown is plagued by inconsiderate people who continue to dump their garbage carelessly which makes the work of the Council much more difficult.
“We continue to do our works as it relates to the drainage system but we are still experiencing the problem of persons disposing of their refuse indiscriminately and that has somehow affected us because when we clean that particular area sometimes we have to go right back and clean it,” Lewis explained.
She further noted that the very garbage that ends up in the canals reaches near the pumps and results in them being damaged.
The PRO added that the Council is trying its best with its limited resources available to ensure that the city does feel the full brunt of floods.
Meanwhile, the official related that the City Hall workers have been doing their part to ensure that key areas are kept clean in and around the city. Additionally, Lewis reminded that the National Drainage and Irrigation Authority (NDIA) has been clearing the major canals in Georgetown, also with the intent of avoiding destructive floods this year.
“We also have some other long-term plans which you will hear of shortly,” she told this publication. Over the past few weeks, the Mayor and councillors, as well as residents, have been on clean-up campaign especially in the Georgetown area.
Hydrometeorological office
According to the Hydrometeorological office of Guyana, the number of rainy days in the city will be increased from 12 in April to 20 in May and 22 in the month of June.
The Weather Department said on its webpage that for April to June, “Rainfall is expected to be the usual or wetter. In the coming weeks, generally dry conditions are expected to continue. However, a gradual increase in rainfall is expected from the latter part of April as there is a transition into the rainy season in some areas”.
A European firm, Vivid Economics, while handing over a report on Climate Resilience Support for Adequate Housing and Urban Accessibility to the Central Housing and Planning Authority (CH&PA) earlier this month had revealed that some $1.3 billion is lost every year in Georgetown as a result of flooding.
The lead consultant from the agency, Charlie Dixon, shared a few findings during his presentation, which indicated that not only is the vast sum a reason for concern presently but in years to come, as it is expected to increase significantly with oil production.
Dixon said, “At the present day, the risk of flooding is expected in the wider Georgetown area to cause around $1.3 billion of damage every single year…so then as we look to 2040, looking into the future as climate change worsens, and we expect these flooding effects to become more impactful, that number rises by round about a factor of four, so expected damages are round about $4 billion”.
Following this revelation, NDIA announced a series of manual and mechanical drainage works within the capital city. The project was pegged at $163 million and was geared towards increasing the drainage capacity to significantly reduce flooding throughout Georgetown.
