Several Berbice homes, businesses underwater due to heavy downpours

Several homes at Glasgow, New Amsterdam, Region Six (East Berbice-Corentyne) are inundated following heavy downpours on Saturday evening into Sunday.
Some residents woke up to several inches of water in their homes while some small businesses have suffered loses.
Some residents related that already a shower on Friday night had resulted in some flooding but the downpours on Saturday evening and Sunday morning worsened the situation.
Most of those affected reside on the western side of the village while some houses on the eastern side also experienced the water in their homes.
Ellieanter Peters recalled that at about 6:30h on Sunday, she recognised that water was covering the floor.

“This is since yesterday [Saturday], the flood was there but not so much but this morning when we got up the water was so high… Everybody has to walk in shared water. By business place did not have so much of water but the water was all over the shop because the water rose from the trench,” she told the Guyana Times.
She said there were blockages to the drainage network which caused the flooding.
“They have not been doing anything in this village. No backhoe don’t come and dig the trenches even if it is once or twice per year. They just pass this village and go to Edinburgh and other villages,” the woman noted.
Another businesswoman, Anstay Williams who lives on the eastern side of the village stated that on Saturday the water started seeping into the lower flat of her house.
“For two days we’re walking in water.”
She and other residents have blamed a local contractor who they say constructed a driveway across the drainage system causing some amount of blockage.
“Since they dig the thing this morning after I go and talk to them all the water runoff, but for two days we were walking in water from your bed,” Williams added.
“The water was up to your ankle. The carpets and vacuum cleaner and a few other things were damaged because they were in the water.”
In addition, Hemchan Surgim pointed out that with the recent rainfall, there has been an accumulation of water on the land.
“We noticed that where the old sawmill was, there was a construction service there; he had tubing that he rest in the drain and with the heavy-duty vehicle passing on it, it mashed the tubing in and caused the drain to block; we spoke to him a few times and nothing was done.”
Sugrim said the water in his house was about one foot thus resulting in damages to several pieces of furniture.
New Amsterdam Mayor Wainwright McIntosh and other councilors visited the area on Sunday to conduct an assessment and to determine the scope of work to be done to ease the flooding.
Meanwhile, residents of Blairmont and Rosignol, Region five on Sunday received cleaning hampers from the Civil Defence Commission (CDC) in response to recent flood impacts in the communities. (Andrew Carmichael)