DESPITE heavy but intermittent December rainfall around the country, reports of flooding on East Coast Demerara have been almost non-existent, thanks to an evolving micro draining and irrigation project undertaken by Government over the past year.

Checks at several low-lying areas, which are known to be flood prone even after the mildest rainfall, proved that interim D&I works in those communities have paid off.
The Dazell Housing Scheme, Hope Lowlands and Belfield, right through to La Bonne Intention (LBI) backlands showed no signs of having been flooded while others with temporary high rising water at historically known  Mahaica/Mahaicony prove that it is receding much faster than in previous years.
Still government has been examining various proposals aimed at bringing a total ease to floods countrywide but notably on East Coast Demerara.
As part of the initiative to tackle the problem that has plagued the low coastal belt since the colonial era, government is building a $3.6 billion drainage network that would descend from the conservancy dam to the Atlantic Ocean via the Hope Lowlands District.
Labeled as the Hope Canal, the scheme is at least 75 percent complete and is expected to be ready by the middle of 2013 and, once finished, should make flooding on East Coast Demerara an occurrence of the past.