WORKERS of the Ministry of Public Works are busy in their efforts to prevent the suffering, loss and damage to property and valuables of residents living in communities along the Rupert Craig Highway, and other villages close to the East Coast Seawalls during extreme high tides, which overtop the seawalls.

Yesterday, the Guyana Chronicle observed both men and women toiling in the hot sun in the vicinity of the Kitty Pump Station, and upon approaching them it was disclosed that they were putting systems in place to prevent a recurrence of what parts of the coast experienced last week when the high tides came.
Speaking with this publication yesterday, Senior District Engineer Dennis Ramsingh said that the next spring tide is expected on Thursday and the works services group of the Ministry of Public Works took a decision to stock pile sandbags to deal with any breach should they occur during the tides.
He explained that at the moment they are working to have 10,000 sandbags stockpiled but should there be a need for additional bags they will be ready, at the snap of the finger, to have those available.
However, as the sandbags are being prepared, some of the bags which were placed along the Rupert Craig highway to prevent the water from flowing from the northern carriageway to the southern carriageway are beginning to be removed by persons for various reasons leaving the areas vulnerable should the high tides come before the expected date.
Mr. Ramsingh said that the sole priority of the Ministry at this point is to ensure that flooding is prevented, especially in the areas which were affected last week, adding that special attention is being given to those areas.
He said that based on the level of preparation the ministry will be in a better position to address any level of overtopping should the tides come as expected this Thursday.
The District Engineer explained that the plan this time around is to have the sandbags placed on the northern side of the northern carriage way so that the water does not find itself taking control of that section like the last time which saw traffic being diverted to the embankment and at some point converting the southern carriageway to accommodate two way traffic.
Meanwhile, as the sandbags are being stockpiled in anticipation of the tides they will be placed along the carriageway before the tides come. The Engineer explained that it would be a bit challenging to do that since there is no indication of where will be the most affected areas when the tides rise, and when the most affected areas are identified the bags will then have to be transported from the location where the stockpiling is ongoing to the affected areas.
He said that placing the bags at locations where it is anticipated will be affected could see the workers being forced to pick up those same bags from those locations to transport them to areas  that are affected or most affected, especially, if the locations where they are set initially are not bothered by the overtopping.
Yesterday, there were already hundreds of bags which were already packed and ready by mid-afternoon.
Meanwhile, the process to have the Sunday nights’ seawall lime shifted to the Camp and High Streets area has already begun.
Yesterday, also, the ministry was mobilising its rangers to visit the seawalls last night to get a listing of all the persons who vend along the seawalls between Sheriff Street and Conversation Tree so that the relocation process can begin.