Heavy rain throughout Wednesday caused widespread water accumulation in Georgetown, shutting down and rendering some offices and schools inaccessible.
The Mayor and City Council (M& CC) said the amount of rainfall was too much for its drainage system, and noted that three of its eight pumps which are inoperable have compounded the problem.
Green blamed among other things citizens’ bad habit of throwing garbage in the waterways and the council’s general lack of funds as reasons for its unpreparedness to deal with the situation. Citizens were forced to wade through swathes of water throughout the day to conduct their business.
Speaking at a news conference, City Mayor Hamilton Green said the Georgetown drainage system was not built to handle the volume of water from heavy downpour nowadays.
The Agriculture Ministry in a release said that rainfall in Guyana’s capital exceeded the February monthly average of 92mm by over 35mm in 24 hours.
A usually congested Quamina Street lies dormant with cars unable to park and pedestrians unable to walk
Greene told reporters that out of the eight pumps within the Greater Georgetown area, three of them are not functional. Pumps located on Lamaha Street, Sixth Street and Forestry Street are currently not in operation due to a variety of issues. The mayor said that “mechanical things go bad without human involvement”. “We could develop a system… but that would be incredibly costly,” the mayor told Guyana Times International when asked if it was possible to re-evaluate drainage requirements within the capital.
He noted that the city is in serious financial stress and would have to manage without concessions. The mayor was also quite forceful when he said that while a new drainage system could be developed, it would not prevent “people from blocking canals” with various garbage items.
The five operational Georgetown pumps are expected to help drain water out of the city, but this will take time. The mayor did chastise residents for copying America-style homes which rest on the ground as opposed to being built on stilts which significantly reduces the cost associated with floods.
Throughout the other regions, the National Drainage and Irrigation Authority (NDIA) will be investing time and manpower to ensure all sluices and kokers are working to clear flood water as quickly as possible. NDIA Chief Executive Officer, Lionel Wordsworth said workers have been dispatched throughout Regions Four and Five.
“We are going out and inspecting the kokers to ensure that they are all in proper working order,” he said. To properly drain excess water from the Mahaica, Mahaicony regions earlier in the year, the East Demerara Conservancy was opened. The conservancy is currently reporting GD levels of 57.95, 0.45GD higher than the safe operating level.
According to reports, the other conservancies are at safe levels. As of Wednesday, the Hydrometeorological Service stated that heavy water accumulation has been recorded in Regions Three, Four, Five and Six. The Hydromet Service stated that heavy rain will continue for the next 24 hours and rainfall may exceed 50mm in certain regions.
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