Sea defence breaches at Eldorado, Foulis
Several breaches developed in the sea defences at Eldorado and Foulis villages on the West Coast Berbice Wednesday night, leading to the intrusion of salt water in residential and cultivation areas for about six hours yesterday.

The breach at Foulis at early high tide yesterday afternoon with the MMA/ADA façade drains in the foreground and the Atlantic in the background.

Cash crop farmers and residents in these villages reported inundation of cultivation plots from 07:00h to around 13:00 h yesterday.

Even as they called for emergency Government intervention, many were racing to build dams and levees around their plots to prevent further damage as the next high tides approached last night.
Totaram Singh, a farmer at Foulis, reported seeing a large volume of water on his land close to covering his garden early yesterday morning and recognized it as sea water,

His land had been flooded before but from water from the Abary Creek and not the Atlantic.

This was around 07:00 h. And the salt water receded around 13:00 h.

Shivraj Baichu, a rice farmer, reported seeing yesterday morning a large volume of water intruding on his plot of cultivated lands around the same time.

He said he built a levee to try to keep the salt water out, but showed the Chronicle yesterday at least five acres of rice lands under salt water.

Rice farmer Nicholas Joseph of Foulis in a five acre section of his plot under salt water

Nicholas Joseph, who plants next to Baichu, also reported five acres of his plot under salt water.

Mr. Fitzroy Fordyce a Councillor of the Profitt Foulis Neighborhood Democratic Council, said he responded to numerous calls about the situation around 08:00 h. yesterday.“

Fordyce said that what happened was that the Atlantic poured through the three breaches in the sea defenses into the Façade drain causing a rise in its levels.

This swell backed up into the secondary drains in the residential and farming areas, and these secondaries overtopped yesterday morning, sending salt water into areas in both villages.

“This is a major problem. As the tide gets higher over the next four days, it will get worse. We need urgent action to block these breaches,” he said.

During a visit to the villages yesterday, Chronicle observed two major breaches in the earthen sea defenses at Foulis and one at Eldorado, with the earthen dam washed away completely.

One of the two breaches at Foulis measured two hundred meters at one spot, and about sixty meters at another, and both were rapidly widening as the high tide surged inwards around 17:00 h.

The level of the water in the Atlantic was about the same level as that in the Mahaica Mahaicony Abary Agricultural Development Authority’s (MMA/ADA) façade drain.

The breach at Eldorado was the longest, measuring about 400 metres and at 17:00 h. yesterday was also rapidly widening.

The Chronicle also observed flotsam apparently deposited by Wednesday night’s high tides several feet inland.

Farmers and residents in the area were last night bracing for a repeat flooding which they expected to be possibly worse than yesterday.

The fear too last night was that the agricultural lands inundated may be badly damaged by the salinity of the intrusion from the Atlantic.