Systems in place to minimise flooding in Reg 6 amid rainy season – Chairman

All systems are in place to minimise flooding in both the residential and farming areas of East Berbice-Corentyne (Region Six) during the current rainy season.
This is according to Region Six Chairman David Armogan, whose comments have come amid flooding that occurred in some sections of New Amsterdam on Thursday.

“We are in a state of readiness to ensure that we minimise flooding as much as possible,” the Chairman has said. “We may not be able to stop it completely, because of the high intensity of rainfall that we have been experiencing,” Armogan said during an interview on Thursday.
Heavy rainfall, which commenced on Wednesday night and continued into Thursday morning, has left sections of New Amsterdam inundated. Along communities in the lower Corentyne area, several yards have been flooded as drains overflowed. According to Armogan, there might be incidents of water-logging, but the administration has been making all the necessary preparations by ensuring that all the drainage systems are cleaned. He said sluices are also being desilted.
“In the dry season, what you find is that heavy siltation takes place at the kokers. Right now, machines are being deployed. We couldn’t do it in the dry season, because if we had done it in the dry season, the siltation would have come back again,” he explained.
Armogan has said arrangements are being put in place to have SIIP workers clean residential drains to allow for faster drainage. Several streets in the main shopping area of New Amsterdam, as well as areas within Vryman’s Ervin, another section of the town, were inundated on Thursday after overnight rainfall. Flooding has been an age-old problem in Vryman’s Ervin.
Armogan has related that the administration is not only focusing on residential communities. “Hopefully, with our level of preparation at the moment, we should be able to avert any major issues with regard to flooding within the Region,” he said.
He disclosed that the administration is receiving much assistance from the Agriculture Ministry, through the National Drainage and Irrigation Authority (NDIA).
“We are working very closely with them to ensure that the farming community as well as the residential areas and the cash crop farmers are as safe as possible from water-logging; because, as you have heavy rainfall and there is water-logging in the farms, you find that the crops begin to die. We are trying our best, and we have all of the systems in place,” Armogan has assured.
He added that whenever the kokers are not operational, the pumps are put into operation. “There might be a few problems as the pumps start to work, but we don’t anticipate any major problem,” Region Six Chairman Armogan has pointed out.