SCHOOLS were called off, and several commercial activities and the operations of agencies which offer critical services to citizens were affected, following close to seven hours of torrential rainfall, mostly along Guyana’s coastland. 

The heavy downpour began in the wee hours of Thursday morning and continued during the day, leaving several parts of Guyana’s capital, Georgetown, and a number of coastal areas flooded.

The deluge, said to be the highest rainfall recorded within a 24-hour period for almost a decade, saw the Ministry of Education announcing that the flood has forced the closure yesterday of all Government schools in Georgetown, as well as in Regions Two, Three and Four.
The Ministry of Education said it “wishes to advise the public that all public schools in Georgetown will remain closed on Friday, November 21, 2014 (today) to facilitate the sanitisation of the facilities”.
Meanwhile, schools in Regions 2, 3, and 5 with the exceptions of the Bygeval Secondary school will be reopened.

The Ministry of Education, in an advisory issued late yesterday, said parents and guardians of Region 4 (East Bank and East Coast) are asked to note that most schools will be reopened today (Friday), with the exception of the following: Clonbrook primary, Clonbrook nursery, Enmore Primary, Ghandi Memorial Nursery, Providence Primary, Chateau Margot Primary, Chateau Margot nursery, Ann’s Grove Primary, Ann’s Grove Nursery, and Unity Nursery.
The flooding also forced the closure of several businesses and stores, market places, and social service offices, including the Guyana Water Inc. on Vlissengen Road. Even some critical services of the Guyana Power and Light (GPL) were unable to be executed for the most part of yesterday due to the rainfall.
Commercial banks did not, however, close their doors to customers and it was business as usual, although the lines were not as long as they usually are on a

normal, sunny day.
Certain streets in Georgetown were inundated with water and vehicles were damaged with some even slipping off roadways; offices were flooded out and in some cases employees of several establishments were asked to return home after their bosses had assessed the situations at their respective places of employment and determined that the environment was not conducive for working or entertaining customers.
Speaking with the Guyana Chronicle on Thursday morning, several operators of businesses lamented that they would have suffered some amount of losses and damage as a result of the heavy downpour which caused their establishments to be inundated.

One woman said that she has grown accustomed to the occurrence, since the flooding along Regent Street has been happening for years owing to poor drainage maintenance. The woman said that she had recently bought several items to retail to customers for the Christmas season and some of those were damaged when the store was flooded.
Another store operator further up Regent Street, between Camp and King Streets, said he was at home when he realised that the rain was continuous. Consequently, he took a decision to travel down to his business establishment and elevate items from the floor to safer ground to prevent loss or damage.
Others were forced to bail water and place sandbags at entrances to prevent floodwaters from causing any further discomfort.
The Minister of Education early yesterday morning suspended classes at public schools and in some other parts of the country along the coast which were affected by the heavy downpour. Some private schools however, kept their doors open, but did not receive many students as the rain did obstruct the

smooth flow of public transportation.
The heavy rains exposed the enormous problem which has been plaguing especially the Capital City of Georgetown: the issue of indiscriminate dumping of garbage and other waste along the road shoulders and directly into main drainage canals, which has grown into a monster of a problem due mainly to the seeming impotence of the Georgetown Mayor and City Council to address the problem.

Several public officials were present checking the conditions of areas and the operation of pumps in and around the city, which were expected to be operational to drain the water off the land.
Minister within the Finance Ministry, Juan Edghill, visited the South Ruimveldt area where he interacted with some residents and checked on the situation there. He told this newspaper that he was very concerned about the level of water that was on the land and which had settled in residents’ bottom flats. He said all efforts at the time of his visit were

being made to ensure that the water was drained off the land in a timely manner to

minimise damage to residents’ properties.
Meanwhile, at the Guyana Chronicle, there was extensive flooding around the compound even as rising water caused damage to some of the materials used in the production of the newspaper.
Over at the National Communications Network Inc., the Guyana Fire Service was called in to

pump water out of the radio studios, as the floodwater threatened some very vital equipment and cables which are integral to the operations of the national radio stations. The accumulated water did not however, cause the stations to go off-air.