In hardest-hit Region Ten…
– HPS
HEAD of the Presidential Secretariat (HPS), Dr. Roger Luncheon said, yesterday, that Region Ten (Upper Demerara/Berbice) has been hardest hit by the recent “unusual heavy rainfall and sudden torrential rains.”
At his weekly post-Cabinet media briefing, in Office of the President (OP), Shiv Chanderpaul Drive, Georgetown, he said the consequential interventions are primarily directed at potable water and food supplies.
“Such interventions have started and more are being planned,” he said.
Overtopping in the Upper Demerara River region has led to flooding in many areas there. High Spring tides and heavy rainfall over the past week caused the river to overflow its banks at Linden, Great Falls, Malali and Muritaro.
Official sources reported that more that 200 families have been affected and entire communities are under as much as four feet of water.
Luncheon pointed out that the situation has significantly disrupted the transportation system, because roads are covered by several feet of water and, in some instances, continuity was impossible due to created breaches.
He said communities have had to endure as many as three days of inundation as well as threats to their livelihood, including farms, crops and livestock.
Luncheon said the ministries of Health, Local Government and Public Works are all involved in the Region 10 relief efforts.
He said the Regional Administration and the Linden Mining Enterprise Limited (LINMINE) Secretariat are also collaborating with the Civil Defence Commission (CDC), which is leading the exercise.
Unfavourable weather conditions have prevailed in many parts of Guyana and Luncheon said these continue to “wreak havoc” in riverine and, particularly, hinterland regions.