Flood watch…
-but gov’t delivers on promise to ease the situation
RESIDENTS in the upper reaches of the Berbice, Demerara, and Essequibo Rivers were up to yesterday still severely affected by overtopping, but will benefit from food supplies and medical care, courtesy of the government, until the waters recede.
This is according to Director of the Civil Defence Commission (CDC), Colonel (Rtd) Chabilall Ramsarup, who said the agency yesterday put together hampers of basic food items for affected families in the aforementioned areas, and that those hampers comprise ration that will last for seven days.
Distribution is projected to begin today, and a senior CDC staffer has been detailed to pay a field visit to the affected communities to assess what else is needed to help residents cope with the difficulties posed by flood waters from the swollen rivers.
The officer was expected to report on his findings late yesterday afternoon.
Agriculture Minister, Mr. Robert Persaud was also in the area yesterday, and word is that Health Minister, Dr. Leslie Ramsammy is scheduled to visit the affected communities today.
Region Ten (Upper Demerara/Berbice) officials told the Chronicle that  Minister Ramsammy paid them a visit yesterday and promised to lend them a hand with an emergency team they’ve had set up to do a medical outreach to the affected areas.
Regional Executive Officer, Mr. Henry Rodney said help from the Ministry will comprise medical supplies suited to flood situations, such as water purifiers, antibiotics, skin creams and disinfectant.
Rodney said too that the Minister also promised to send personnel from his ministry to assist Region Ten staff who will be offering medical care to residents of the affected communities, starting from today, and that those visits will be undertaken on a daily basis to targeted communities  until the situation reverts to normal.
Meanwhile, a resident at Rockstone on the Essequibo River confirmed that that river had overtopped its banks and had spread to areas as much as half-a-mile inland. He said that the water had encroached even further inland, but by last week had dropped to its current level, where it has remained ever since. “…it ent moving; it neither going nor coming; it just stickling.”
Normally dry locations, such as the boat landing and buildings near the waterfront, can only be accessed by boat, our informant said.
The flood waters at Rockstone have also killed the aquarium fish industry, which many residents depend on for a living, and fishing and hunting for their daily food has also become impossible.
“We not catching fish; the animals we usually hunt for meat have gone deep into the bushes. We now getting by on a vegetarian diet, and occasional meat from visits to Linden,” the Rockstone resident said.
Closer to the coast, residents at Friendship, on the East Bank Demerara reported yesterday that the flood waters caused by overtopping of the Demerara River had abated, and an emergency team from the Sea and River Defence Department of the Ministry of Works and Hydraulics was observed yesterday sealing the breach at Craig, lower down the East Bank, which was caused by the same swelling of the Demerara on Wednesday morning.
Farmers in the immediate environs have however complained that farmlands aback the villages were under three to four feet of water, which has its origins in the backlands.
Ramtahal, a farmer at Hope, said that the backlands have been flooded for the past two weeks, and that he had lost sugar cane plants, sweet potatoes and other crops. The flood waters were also taking a heavy toll on small ruminants such as goats and sheep.
“These animals are dying from foot diseases. The small ones dying from the cold,” the Hope farmer said.
Meanwhile, the Hydromet Service has reported accumulative rainfall between July 1 and 14 to be between 90.1mm and 364.9mm.  Meteorological data in the last 48 hours for inland locations, especially those along the upper Berbice and Demerara areas, suggest that rainfall figures range from 50.0mm to 100.0mm.
These periods of heavy downpour in watersheds that are already saturated have increased the risk of flash flooding in inland and interiors location, the Met Service said in a statement, adding that the Guyanese public is hereby reminded that we are in the rainy season, and periods of heavy downpours are likely to continue during July 2010.
Coupled with the above-normal high tides currently prevailing, these downpours will increase  the risk of localized flooding in the coastal zone and in low-lying inland areas.
The highest of these tides and rains are expected during the early morning hours. Therefore, residents are advised to secure all property at risk before retiring to bed in the evenings.
It said that  the Ministry of Agriculture’s National Drainage and Irrigation Authority (NDIA) continued its ongoing  support the Region Ten Administration following reports of flash flooding in areas such as Silvertown, First, Second and Third Alley and Poker Street going towards Blueberry Hill.
Spring tides and unusually torrential rains have over the past seven days swollen the upper reaches of the Berbice, Demerara and Essequibo Rivers  causing them to  overflow  and destroy roads and farms in many of the riverain communities.
More than 200 families are suffering from the effects of the flooding, and the government  has mobilized a number of ministries and agencies to provide urgent relief and assistance to residents in these affected  communities.
Minister of Transport and Hydraulics, Mr. Robeson Benn, has attributed the flooding in the  riverain areas to  a combination of unusually high spring tides from the Atlantic, and  extreme quantities of water coming down from the creeks and other tributaries of the Demerara, Berbice and Essequibo Rivers due to the high-intensity rainfall.
The heavy rains have generally been blamed on the presence over Guyana of an Inter-tropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) over the past two weeks. The rains are expected to continue, though hopefully with lesser intensity over the next two weeks.
In the meantime, road construction crews from the Ministry of Transport and Hydraulics are on standby to carry out the necessary repairs to many of the roads damaged by flood waters as soon as the weather conditions permit.