Residents at El Dorado and Foulis Villages, West Coast Berbice, are happy that the sea defence crisis which adversely affected them last month is over.

They said yesterday that the contractor who was assigned had sealed the breaches, removing the threat of salt water intrusion on farmlands.

“Things are back to normal and farmers are getting sweet water in the façade drain once again. There are however potential breaches at some other areas and we would like to see these addressed now before they get out of hand, like what happened here during the high tides last month end,” Neighborhood Democratic Council (NDC) member Fitzroy Fordyce said.

Fordyce made the comments while talking about the current status of the sea defences in the Profitt/Rising Sun NDC following major breaches in July last and subsequent mobilisation and repairs.

Breaches in the sea defences at Eldorado and Foulis had led to the intrusion of salt water in residential and cultivation areas, inconvenience to residents, and damage to some crops.

They had also led to the intervention of both the Ministries of Agriculture and Public Works and subsequent repairs which started a week ago and are ongoing.

Yesterday Fordyce identified cracks in the sea defence dam at No.41 Village and at Weldaad, Golden Fleece and Washington villages as needing immediate attention too.

He called on the Ministry of Works to address these potential breaches now.

“No use in the Ministry waiting until these cracks get wider and then they have to spend a whole lot of money on repairs when they can do it for far less now,” he said.

Noting that Government had said that the current works are temporary, the Councilor said that residents were looking forward to the construction of a permanent sea defence structure since the ocean appears to be unrelenting in its advance on these villages.

“When I was a boy we used to have to walk miles to get to the Ocean. There used to be big courida trees way out there, some so huge you couldn’t wrap your hands around the trunks. They are all gone, uprooted, washed away. Now the ocean is right on top of us and pounding, ” he said.