Region 6 preparing for rainy season, Chairman cautions flooding may still occur

Region Six (East Berbice-Corentyne) is preparing for the upcoming rainy season but Chairman David Armogan is cautioning residents that flooding may still occur, especially if there is high intensity rainfall.
AccuWeather, a private-sector American media company that provides commercial weather forecasting services worldwide, has forecasted that there will be 21 rainy days in Region Six during the month of May with thunderstorms for 12 days.
The current system in the region is geared to take off about one and a half inches of water within a 24-hour period.
Armogan on Wednesday said that preparations are ongoing to prepare communities for the rainy season, but he explained that flooding may still occur during times of high intensity rainfall.
“So if you have very heavy rainfall, you will expect some degree of flooding to take place but we are putting systems in place. We are trying to make sure that all of the drainage systems are cleared and we had discussions with all of the NDCs [Neighbourhood Democratic Councils] to make sure that they clean the drains and ensure that it is not clogged up.”
However, even as the regional chairman speaks of systems being put in place to negate a negative impact of heavy and continuous rainfall, the main outlets for the water to be sent to the ocean and rivers are all still silted.
“All the outfalls are blocked up at the moment. We cannot really clean the outfalls unless we have heavy rainfall because we will have siltation again and we will have to spend more money because if you dig it out today and then there is no rain for the next two weeks then you will have the same amount of siltation blocking up the outfalls. Once we noticed that the rain begins to fall with some amount of intensity we will start. The contracts have already been awarded. The NDIA [National Drainage and Irrigation Authority] is waiting not to tell the contractors when to start the work because if they start it too early we would get back siltation and we would be back at square one again,” Armogan explained.
While acknowledging that incessant rainfall will result in water accumulating on the land, Armogan says the regional administration has also made all preparations based on the current drainage infrastructure.
He explained that they are being cleaned and pumps have been installed at key locations to ensure even during the high tide drainage can still take place if needed.
“All of our pumps are functioning at the moment and so we do not anticipate any great degree of flooding unless we have terrible rainfall.”
Pumps are situated in two of the three towns; New Amsterdam, and Rose Hall Town. There are two in New Amsterdam and two more in Rose Hall Town to cover the Port Mourant to Albion area on the Corentyne. Pumps are also situated at Bolem and Fyrish.
Additionally, pumps have been installed at several other villages along the Corentyne where farming takes place including Number 43 Village, Eversham and Adventure.
There are also two pumps in the East Canje area to assist with drainage.
“We have adequate amount of pumps,” Armogan assured. He said Agriculture Ministry through the NDIA can make more pumps available to the region if needed. (G4)