BY mid-afternoon on Wednesday the breached Sussex Street koker which had been responsible for the community of Albouystown being flooded had been fixed.

The koker had suddenly developed problems on Tuesday afternoon, resulting in water from the Demerara River inundating the community in an unfortunate situation that was believed to have been caused by a person or persons unknown tampering with the koker, according to officials responsible for the administration of the city and its drainage systems.

Flooding of the community had occurred just days after its residents had begun picking up the proverbial pieces and getting their community and homes back to normalcy following extensive flooding they had experienced during the recent unprecedented rainfall, which had also flooded several parts of the city and the east and west coasts of Demerara.

Town Clerk Carol Sooba was quoted in sections of the media as blaming the flooding of Albouystown on tampering of the koker, which she said amounted to sabotage. This was substantiated by initial reports from persons immediately after the development.

Contacted on Wednesday, the Town Clerk said works had been carried out on that very koker after the area had been flooded last week and had to be drained when the tide was low. She told this newspaper that the apparent reason for the flooding was a case in which persons unknown to the council had wanted to start a confrontation.

By late Wednesday most of the affected areas in Albouystown had been drained after the koker had been fixed, according to officials from the Ministry of Agriculture.
The claim that the koker might have been sabotaged is, however, being played down by Albouystown residents, who are claiming that the works carried out on the structure last week following the downpour that flooded most of Region 4 had not been properly done, and the koker had buckled under pressure from the water and the high tide.

Over the years, the Government of Guyana has made several investments to ensure adequate attention and proper facilities are installed to drain water off the land whenever it rains. The period that saw extensive spending by the Government on drainage and the capacity to get water off the land is the post-2005 flood period.

There has since been continuous spending by the administration on drainage, but these efforts are being hampered by the wanton dumping of garbage and other waste into the main and community drainage canals, and the extent of this problem is always seen whenever it rains heavily.

Most of the items which contribute to the blockage of drainage canals and trenches in communities are of Styrofoam material, and Local Government Minister Norman Whittaker underscored that very point only recently.

There have been numerous calls for the administration to adopt a tougher approach in regard to the issue of Styrofoam use. Government had placed a temporary ban on the importation of this item, but that ban has been lifted.

The issue of additional taxation for those companies and businesses which are responsible for importing Styrofoam items has been floated on several occasions, but such an approach would require broad-based consultation with all stakeholders.