Total of Five People Die Due to Flood (as of 1/24) (Not six as reported by AP/Yahoo)

Chronicle ( 1/22): POLICE yesterday reported that three more persons have died, apparently as a result of the widespread floods on the East Coast Demerara. A police press release said the bodies were found in the flood waters in three villages between Friday night and yesterday.
This brings to five the number of persons who have died since the floods a week ago swept through Georgetown, the East Coast Demerara, East Bank Demerara and the West Demerara.

Police said the body of Latchman Mujum, 41, of 12 Enmore Pasture, was found in the water near a koker (sluice) on Friday night. Residents
said he was apparently on his way home when he drowned. The body of Nicola Alleyne, 28, of Watson Street, North Friendship, was found floating early yesterday morning in front of her house, police said. Police said she left home Thursday afternoon to collect medical supplies on the village public road. The body of Nazim Ali Sukhu, 52, of 9th Field, Cummings Lodge, Greater Georgetown, was found floating early yesterday morning at Industry, East Coast Demerara. Police said he was last seen alive about 18:00 hrs Friday.
Post mortems are to be done on the bodies.

A three-year-old boy drowned Thursday afternoon in a flooded yard at Lusignan, East Coast Demerara. Andy Roopnarine was reportedly playing in flood water in his parents’ yard at 275 South Lusignan when he went missing. Police said his body was later found in the yard where the water was about four feet deep. A 38-year-old man of Lusignan Pasture, East Coast Demerara, was the first fatality in the flooding.
Residents said Chatterpaul Persaud, known as Sham, appeared to have drowned in his yard, which was under about five feet of flood water, last Sunday. Neigbours said Persaud lived with a sister, who is an invalid, and was last seen on Sunday in his yard.

Mother of Three Dies in Floodwater While Looking for Coconut

Stabroek News (1/22) A Friendship mother of three became the third person to die in the floods. And police have discovered the bodies of two men, residents of Industry and Enmore, who may also have drowned in the flood waters on the East Coast Demerara. Nicola Alleyne, 28, of Friendship North was found dead near her home yesterday. She was last seen alive on Thursday, a neighbour said.

Meanwhile, police on the East Coast discovered the bodies of Neezam Ali Dookie, 52, of Industry Crown Dam at 6.30 am yesterday and Latchman Muguma, 41, of Enmore around 2 pm on Friday. Alleyne was fetching water coconuts home on Thursday afternoon and had made one trip. But when she went back for a few more nuts she disappeared. Relatives say they were worried but never expected to find her dead.

Alleyne could not swim and the water in her area is still high. They say the woman only moved to Friendship a few years ago...

Three-Year-Old Drowns in Floodwater

Kaieteur News (Jan 20, 2005): The death toll resulting from the recent floods rose to two yesterday, when a three-year-old drowned in his kitchen at Lusignan, East Coast, Demerara. According to reports, the incident occurred at about 17:30hrs. The three-year-old Andi Ramroop of 275 Lusignan was found in the water, which is some four feet high, in the bottom flat of the family's two-storey house. The grieving mother, Jasmattie Narine told Kaieteur News that she had just given Andi and his brother something to drink and left them to go and prepare dinner. However, when she returned about 10 minutes later, Andi was nowhere in sight.

"Me jus give me two sons and one a dem cousin drink and me go fuh put on potato and when me come back me only see me big son and he cousin and me ask dem where Andi deh and dey tell me dem ain't know,” Narine recalled.

Narine proceeded to make checks under the bed since that was her son's favorite hiding place. “Right away I start searching, because I know he does thief de nut butter and go under de bed, but when I check deh, I din see he. I even go on de verandah, but he ain't even went deh. Then de lil cousin she, ‘aunty Jas, check downstairs',

and I tell she no, ‘how he gon reach downstairs?'…she turn and tell me that she see he going downstairs,” the distraught mother recalled. Narine told this newspaper that when she reached downstairs in her kitchen, she saw her son lying in the water, already dead. Narine said that the family. (Left, Jsmatti Narine weeps for her child claimed by floodwater.)

had to vacate the bottom flat of the house because of the high flood waters. “Me run and pick up me baby just by de inside step in me own house, but he de dead a ready; is only yesterday (Wednesday) me went to de shop fuh buy crayon and plain paper fuh dem occupy dem time because dem can't play in de yard,” Narine added. The toddler was immediately rushed to the city hospital where he was pronounced dead. Andi would have celebrated his fourth birthday come March 3. Andi is survived by his seven-year-old brother.


Situation Grim: 20,000-Tent City Being Constructed
Stabroek News (1/22) A week after heavy rains swept the coast inundating large swathes the Joint Operation Centre (JOC) yesterday called the situation grim and said that a tent city would be set up for thousands who might have to be evacuated to higher ground. The tent city with a capacity of 20,000 is to be set up at Timehri for the relocating of persons from the hardest hit East Coast flood areas.

At a hurriedly called press conference held at nine last night at the JOC base at Police Headquarters, Eve Leary, Commander John Lewis made the pronouncement on the situation and said that an aerial reconnaissance team flew over the East Coast and could not find any dry ground. He said that team reported witnessing a wide sheet of water covering almost everywhere.

"We believe that entire villages would have to be evacuated," he said, adding that the tent city would have to be put in place if the rains continue and the flooding does not recede. He said too that the facility would take a week to set up and he is hoping to have the tents acquired for the accommodation of the people...

Lewis said that the JOC and the Government are trying to solve the problem without the declaration of a state of emergency. He said too that once the decision is made to evacuate the villages, security arrangements would be put in place for the homes persons would have left behind. Regions Three, Four and Five have been declared disaster areas. Meanwhile Lewis said that a reconnaissance team sent out yesterday did not find any evidence of breaches in any of the conservancies. But workers from the Guyana Sugar Corporation (Guysuco) had been hard at work yesterday attempting to stem the overtopping of the Boerasirie Conservancy on the West Bank of Demerara. The JOC said that the heavily flooded areas remain south Georgetown and other parts of the city and along the East Coast of Demerara as far as Mahaica.

Information Liaison to the President Robert Persaud yesterday said that the Government has approached the United States Southern Command for assistance but a dollar figure in terms of aid flows has not been released. Relief funds began coming into the country on Thursday with the IDB announcing a $20M grant but many of the worst affected people are still without adequate relief and serious concerns remain over the continuing high water levels.

Tax Waived on Food and Relief Supplies

Chronicle (1/23): The government has approved the waiver of duties and taxes on all goods required for the current flood relief programme, the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) announced yesterday.

It said the government has also approved the waiver of duties and taxes on a list of food items imported for commercial use. The GRA said information on the approved list of food items can be obtained by contacting any of its offices or Binsaud Baksh on 621-9927. The list of food items was still being worked out yesterday but the Chronicle understands that it includes flour, cooking oil, milk powder, onion and potatoes.

The GRA said the relevant importers in Georgetown can contact its Remission Unit or Binsaud Baksh. Persons who want to import goods from Suriname are required to contact the Officer in Charge of the Springlands Customs Office on 339-2445, the GRA advised.

Relief Goods Stolen and Sold at Shops, Some Chaos

Stabroek News (1/21): As nightfall approached in overcast skies yesterday, residents in South and North Ruimveldt, like other flooded areas across the country, were bracing themselves for another day of misery.

Most of the approximately two-mile long community remained knee-deep in water yesterday, although some sections, including the Mekdeci Housing Scheme, fared better because of the height of the land. Meanwhile, some relief supplies have been getting through to these areas although distribution seemed haphazard with many persons saying that they had not received any rations.

Stabroek News understands that some persons hijacked some of the dry rations delivered to the South Ruimveldt Primary School even as efforts were being made to ensure equitable distribution. One resident told this newspaper that some young men managed to flee with bags of flour and sugar some of which is being sold at shops in the neighbourhood. "This is unscrupulous. They are profiteering off the suffering of people," the resident said, while acknowledging that delays in receiving supplies had seen a rise in frustration among residents.

A visit to the school yesterday saw relief supplies being distributed, but there was evidence of an earlier scramble: spilt black eye peas lined the route to the class where supplies were being distributed. Over at the HBTV studios where hot meals and hampers are being prepared and given out approximately 100 families from neighbouring communities received supplies. Businesswoman Farida Hillman told Stabroek News that people from several areas including, Lodge, Roxanne Burnham Gardens, North and South Ruimveldt, La Penitence, Tucville, Guyhoc and Stevedore Housing Scheme were receiving supplies from the centre. A line of people stretched along Mandela Avenue from the TV studio.

Executives of the PNCR then sought to explain to people waiting that relief supplies were finished. Many voiced disapproval with the effort and lamented the concentration of aid on the East Coast Demerara. "People in town suffering... truck loads of dry rations go to the East Coast and none coming to we," a man standing in line remarked...

Another man who only gave his name as Thompson said that some 50 people had arranged themselves into a group and approached Johnnie P Supermarket to get rations on credit as directed by President Bharrat Jagdeo. However the shop owner told them he wanted someone in authority to approve the release before he gave anything. Thompson said the group has been unsuccessful in etting anyone to approve the supplies. "They just sharing water as if we could live on water alone," another relief seeker exclaimed.

A visit to areas at the back of South and North Ruimveldt saw many residents in their top flats looking out despondently at the dank, stagnant water surrounding them. (Photo, PNC shares out relief at HBTV station on Mandela Avenue).

Appoint the Experts-Corbin

Stabroek News (1/25): PNCR Leader Robert Corbin says experts must urgently get involved in the flood relief effort while noting that a flyover has shown damage repair to the East Demerara Conser-vancy. "There was water at some sections of the East Demerara Conservancy overflowing and also sandbags in other sections in what would be damage repair. The Boerasirie Conservancy did have definite breaks," Corbin told Stabroek News yesterday in a telephone interview.

He adds there were a number of experts on the flight who were anxious to have a look at the situation. Among the persons on the reconnaissance flight was Major General ret Joe Singh who when contacted after the interview, said there was obvious over-topping. He said from Mahaica to Georgetown was flooded, and at the rate of discharge of the pumps the water could be around for another week without further rainfall. "And if the rain returns then it is obvious we could have an ongoing situation," he said.

Corbin said more experts in disaster situations are needed. He recommended Singh and Chung Lee, who was sent as Caricom "point man" to hurricane-hit Grenada. "While some of these men may be involved they have only forced their way in, they are not formally involved," he said.

Singh says he is indeed involved on a voluntary basis. "I'm going out and seeing what can be done, but a Citizen Initiative has been launched and I've been asked to chair that, our first meeting is this evening." The Citizen Initiative involves the organization and delivery of needs by private citizens and NGOs.

"What is needed is a plan co-ordinated by a Disaster Relief Committee," Corbin pointed out in the interview. He said at present there are five task forces responsible for food, health, shelter, water, and technical aspects all headed by ministers. "These committees should call on the expertise of persons with knowledge and experience in the designated areas," he said. "I don't know what is the plan for food distribution, even though I am member of the food committee. The Civil Defence Commission can't tell what is the food distribution plan."

Singh agrees there is room for improvement in the relief effort. "There is also a need for information, the logistical support to know how many pregnant women there are, how many breast-feeding babies, how many old persons, so one can better assess needs."

Flood Away in 7 Days?

Stabroek News (1/27): Despite dozens of pumps jutting into the sea, stubborn floodwaters on the East Coast may take another week to go and the government has reconstituted the main disaster relief body following criticisms of the current operation. Chairman of the National Drainage and Irrigation Board, Ravi Narine told the Government Information Agency (GINA) that the floodwater is expected to recede in seven days. In a release issued at 8.42 pm, GINA quoted Narine as saying that the floodwaters on the East Coast dropped by a foot yesterday. "Positive signs are being shown that the water level is being reduced and sustained. That means that it is not rising as it was last week with the back water coming down", he said.

Narine said that an aerial survey conducted by the Guyana Defence Force had shown that the Crown Dam is now visible. He said that "is a positive sign. A lot of water between the Lama Conservancy and the Crown Dam will be kept in storage so the agricultural lands and the housing areas can now be drained". He added that the government's investment in the East Demerara Water Conservancy dam has paid off and it has held its own under severe pressure.

"The conservancy dam has been tested to its ultimate. I am surprised that many more cracks were not seen", Narine told GINA. He rebutted negative comments on the integrity of the conservancy adding that there were many arrogant opinions on the state of the dam.
He acknowledged that there are lessons to be learnt from the flood and said that the conservancy level is close to normal - 58.5 GD. Last week it had exceeded 59 GD. Speaking to Stabroek News earlier yesterday, Regional Engineer for Region Four Shameer Samad said that as of yesterday the water in some places went down as much as 18 inches since the flooding began week before the last.

He said that the water has been running off an average of four inches per day but the showers on Tuesday caused the drainage process to slow down. Residents told Stabroek News that when the water goes down 14 inches in some areas, it comes up about six inches with the high tide. The hardly-budging waters have raised fears among residents of the city and the coast that catastrophic overtopping, leaking and breaches of conservancies may be something they will have to face repeatedly in the future. They note that even if the January rainfall had been unusually heavy the numerous pumps working would have been able to clear the water over the last few days. That this hasn't happened points to continuing flows from the backlands in addition to continuing rainfall, they argue.

Is Water Coming from Berbice?

Stabroek News (1/27): Farmers and hunters who operate in the West Berbice and Mahaicony backlands have posited that the inundation of the East Coast Demerara is attributable to a build-up of water in the Abary-Mahaicony and Mahaica conservancies and a lack of maintenance of the Mahaica/Mahaicony/Abary-Agricultural Development Authority (MMA-ADA) Scheme over recent years. Contacted by this newspaper for a response, Chairman of the MMA-ADA Rudolph Gajraj dismissed the farmers' allegations as "wild rumours" saying the conservancy "had not reached such a high level to flood the Mahaica backlands and the East Coast". He refused to answer further queries and terminated the brief telephone interview.

The farmers and hunters have been traversing the dams and canals along the conservancies on a regular basis and say they have found evidence of neglect of the infrastructure. They told Stabroek News that most of the drainage canals in the conservancies are clogged while the high-level dams around them are almost impassable in several sections. The state of the dams they said makes it almost impossible for anyone to access much less maintain the infrastructure, noting that employees of the MMA-ADA have not been visiting the conservancies for some time now.

The farmers/hunters who were in the conservancy as recently as mid-December told this newspaper that the spill way in the Abary-Mahaicony conservancy in the vicinity of Dageraad is clogged with vegetation and has been this way for the past five years. An attempt they said was made to clear the structure some five years ago but the exercise was not completed. The structure, they say, can only be cleared by using a dragline operating from a pontoon. "We found thick vegetation across the spill way for a distance of at least five feet in width on which we walked," said Bishram Somwaru of Rosignol.

Flood relief for the conservancy is provided by the reinforced concrete spill way with a crest length of 5,000 feet. It has a maximum design discharge of 538 cubic metres or 19,000 cubic feet per second and discharges flood water overland between earth training bunds into the Berbice River. The lack of maintenance of the multi-million dollar infrastructure in the scheme has also been noted by at least two Neighbourhood Demo-cratic Council (NDC) chairmen on the West Coast Berbice. A few years ago a major flood caused widespread damage to livestock, crops and buildings on the West Coast Berbice. Investi-gations then revealed that the flooding was as a result of inoperable facilities and/or clogged drainage systems.

Farmers have long complained about the poor service provided by the scheme and had called in vain for an investigation into the operations of the MMA-ADA and in particular its financial status. Since the advent of the flooding there has been no complete, official explanation for the large volume of water that covers several villages on the East Coast. Overtopping of the East Demerara Water Conservancy had been reported. Some engineers have said that seepage was occurring but this explanation has also been dismissed by others. Yet the question being asked by the farmers and hunters is: "where is all the excess water coming from?" They believe that most of the water is coming from the Abary-Mahaicony and Mahaica conservancies whose infrastructure they say has been neglected.

The MMA-ADA Scheme encompasses an area of some 422,600 acres. The Abary-Mahaicony Conservancy catchment area is some 312 square miles. The surface area of the two conservancies is approximately 300 square miles. The conservancies store flood waters from the Abary, Mahaicony and Mahaica rivers. However, planned works on the Third Phase of the project to install similar infrastructure in the Mahaica area have not been undertaken.

The infrastructure works would have included the continuation of the high level dam and adjoining irrigation canal for some four to five miles between Mahaicony and Mahaica. Sources close to the MMA-ADA said this was as a result of a decision to swamp lands in that area and as a result there is no flood control mechanism in that area. This, farmers told Stabroek News, allows excess water from the Abary-Mahaicony Conservancy to flow into the East Coast via the middle and upper reaches of the Mahaica River. At a Poverty Reduction Strategy public consultation session for Region Five in 2001 in West Berbice, farmers called for among other things, the completion of the MMA-ADA Scheme and for an improvement in the maintenance of the scheme.

Somwaru and Jainarine, another hunter/fisherman, said during their visit to the conservancy in December the vegetation blocking the spill weir was a mere 12 inches from the top and by now it would have reached the top of the concrete wall. "As a result the excess water from the conservancy would not spill over into the Berbice River but would be pushed back towards Mahaicony, Mahaica and the East Coast Demerara," they said. "Large sections of the main canal, which was dug to a depth of 30 feet and 20 feet wide have been clogged with vegetation reducing its width in some areas to a mere four feet. In some areas the canals and high level dams are blocked making them impassable. This makes access to the spill way, the main canal and the entire high level dam almost impossible."

This newspaper also learnt that the conservancy was visited a few months ago by a team of foreign engineers who expressed alarm at the state of the infrastructure. A few years ago a large number of employees were retrenched from the scheme including rangers who were responsible for monitoring the infrastructure in the Abary-Mahaicony Conservancy and recommending remedial works.

'"Almost impossible' for MMA water to flood East Coast - Scheme Chairman


Stabroek News (1/29): The Chairman of the MMA-ADA Scheme, Rudolph Gajraj yesterday said that due to the layout and geography of the Mahaica/Mahaicony/ Abary (MMA) area it is almost impossible for water from that area to have contributed to the current flood on the East Coast of Demerara. He was responding via a Government Information Agency (GINA) press release to a report in yesterday's issue of the Stabroek News which said that farmers and hunters knowledgeable about the MMA area believed that because of the neglect of the infrastructure in the scheme and thick overgrowth the Mahaica backlands and the East Coast were being flooded. That report had contained a comment from Gajraj who dismissed the farmers' contentions as "wild rumours". He refused to answer further questions from the reporter and terminated the conversation.

In the GINA press release yesterday, Gajraj said the entire primary system, the Abary conservancy dam and the main corridors of the Abary-Berbice façade and every structure that serves the primary system are in good order. The Chairman added that the Abary Conservancy is intact and that there is no overtopping whatsoever. He further said that the Abary seven-door sluice is working contrary to rumours that the facility has been breached. He reported that the level of the Abary conservancy is 63.5 GD as of yesterday, below the 64 GD supply level of the conservancy. He also noted that the MMA-ADA has made its resources of pumps and personnel available to support the flood-stricken East Coast Demerara from the inception of the relief efforts.

Gajraj described the Stabroek News article as "wicked and technically flawed". In a comment, Stabroek News Editor Anand Persaud noted that if Gajraj had done the appropriate thing and answered the reporter's questions he might have been able to dispel the concerns raised by the farmers and hunters.

Farmers and hunters who traverse the dams and canals regularly said they have seen evidence of neglect of the infrastructure. They reported that the drainage canals in the conservancies are clogged while high-level dams around them are almost impassable in several sections. They have said that the state of the dams made it almost impossible for anyone to access or maintain the infrastructure and that MMA-ADA employees have not been visiting the conservancies for some time now. Two Neighbourhood Democratic Council (NDC) chairmen on the West Coast of Berbice have also noted the lack of maintenance of the multi-million dollar infrastructure. A few years ago a major flood caused widespread damage to livestock, crops and buildings on the West Coast Berbice. Investigations had revealed that the flooding was as a result of inoperable facilities and/or clogged drainage systems