Popular hardware, electrical, and industrial store Silvie’s Industrial Solutions are counting losses due to the constant flooding of their High and Hadfield Street, Georgetown store during rainy seasons.
Flooding in front of Silvie’s store
Health and Safety Manager of the establishment, Henry Manerio, told this publication that they are becoming frustrated, not only because of their losses, but because their employees are becoming sick.
“We are losing hundreds of thousands of dollars and this is a horrible situation. Every time a little rain falls, this whole place gets flooded. This is happening especially in our Repairs Department, where we do repairs for customers; that entire place gets flooded. We are even experiencing situations where some of our workers are becoming sick,” he said.
Manerio underscored that they have reached out to the Mayor and City Council (M&CC) several times, with the recent date being around the 13th of May, and to date, there has been no satisfactory action taken.
“We are suffering losses, especially in manpower, with the amount of time the team has to take to bail out the water from the store. Our business performance on the days the area is flooded acts within a loss, because it is unsanitary and difficult for our customers to enter the premises, and their shopping comfort gets disturbed”, Manerio said.
The flooded Repairs Department at Silvie’s
The health and safety manager alluded that the business has been experiencing this issue for more than four years, and it is becoming worse year after year.
Late last year, the Mayor and City Council had said that when flooding occurs in the city, the M&CC is not the only one to be blamed. Ubraj Narine, Mayor of Georgetown, had pointed accusing fingers at the residents of the city, saying that they are also responsible. He added that the flooding is becoming worse because residents of the city are littering. The Mayor said sofa sets and old pieces of cloth were found among items clogging the drainage system.
Also, in 2019, drainage works were done in Georgetown to increase the drainage capacity and significantly reduce flooding throughout the city. An allocation of G$274 million was spent on Georgetown’s drainage, yet residents and businesses of the city are still complaining.
