. . . dry season interrupted by heavy rains
PARAMARIBO – Suriname does not expect the rainy season to start before mid-April but it has already begun to experience torrential rains. A source told the Guyana Chronicle that since Sunday the country has been having relentless downpours which caused severe inundation, resulting in massive traffic jams and forcing shops, offices, businesses and schools in the capital Paramaribo to close. Public transportation was severely disrupted when taxi drivers refused to traverse usual routes leaving scores of passengers stranded.

The country’s Meteorology Service has said the bad weather is caused by disturbances in the Inter Tropical Convergence Zone above Suriname.

According to the source, the districts Paramaribo, Commewijne and Saramacca were severely hit, while rivers in the remote interior continue to swell.

Authorities are closely monitoring an ‘early warning system’ in the hinterlands that was established after severe flooding in those areas in 2006.

Weather service reports noted that 91.5 millimetres of rain was recorded on Monday and over 110 millimetres on Wednesday.

The Boven-Suriname River has also risen some 70 centimetres above normal levels with residents recalling the 2006 floods on high alert.

Since motorists were unable to distinguish the canals from the inundated streets over a dozen cars ended up in canals.

In one incident several young men had to dive into a canal to rescue a couple and their baby. Motorists, meanwhile, were forced to stay for hours in slowly moving lines navigating carefully through inundated roads. Fortunately, though, no casualties have been reported.

The rains are expected to continue until this weekend and according to Meteorologist Roël Oehlers, authorities are keeping a close watch on the Amerindian villages of Palumeu and Kwamalasemutu, in southern Suriname. They are also keeping an eye on the Maroon village Drietabiki, close to the border with French-Guiana, where the water levels are rising as well.

Minister of Public Works, Ganeshkoemar Kandhai who toured several of the affected areas, told journalists that while all the drainage pumps were in operation the systems were unable to process the deluge in time.

He maintained, however, that the government is seeking finances to upgrade the drainage in the country since it seems highly inadequate due to poor maintenance and expansion of residential areas.

Sieuwnath Naipal from the University of Suriname observed that although the situation isn’t alarming, as yet, if the rains continue at current levels it will deteriorate.

In 2006 several thousand residents in the interior fled their homes while the government requested international assistance to cope with the disaster.