MINISTER of Agriculture, Dr. Leslie Ramsammy, said that Guyana is now in the end-of-year rainy season a little earlier than normal and that slight to moderate showers are expected in the coming week.
He reported that the outlook for the next week looks promising.  “Unless things change, what we are seeing right now in our immediate future is that clouds coming our way do no not have the kind of moisture to give us the intensity that we experienced on Wednesday.” He explained.Rainfall over the next week is expected to average between 25 to 50 mm over a 24-hour period, particularly in Regions 2, 3 and 4.
Currently, the highest level of water, from the November 27 rainfall, remains on the ground in Region 4 (Demerara/Mahaica), the hardest hit region. For this reason, Ramsammy pointed out that 25mm rain could still result in flooding in the city, since the grounds are saturated and the levels of water in the canals are high.
There is also the issue of the pumps at Lamaha and the Guyana Forestry Commission, Kingston, still being down, but Ramsammy is optimistic that they will be operational by next week as officials from the National Drainage and Irrigation Authority (NDIA) are providing assistance to the Georgetown municipality in this regard.
In the meantime, Ramsammy reported that the Community Drainage and Irrigation Programme (CDIP) workers are working with city officials and the Ministry of Public Works to ensure that certain clogged drains are cleared.
The NDIA on Friday was engaged in moving two excavators from Hope Relief Channel to Georgetown.  Dr Ramsammy explained that the Ministry of Public Works requested this assistance to give support to the Georgetown municipality in cleaning some of the primary canals.
The NDIA is providing assistance as well to various Regional Democratic Councils (RDCs) and Neighbourhood Democratic Councils (NDCs) across the country.
“With improving weather conditions we are predicting for the moment, we will continue the work we are doing, to ensure all our pumps, all our drainage structures and so are in place,” Ramsammy said.
Heavy rainfall flooded Region 4 and parts of Regions 2 (Pomeroon/Supenaam) and 3 (Essequibo Islands/West Demerara) after a high-pressure system over Bermuda forced the Inter-tropical Convergence Zone (ICTZ) to shift from its last position, to about six degrees north of the equator, bringing it directly over Guyana’s Coast on Wednesday, November 27 at around 2am.
Six hours of intense rainfall resulted in Georgetown being the most affected with recording at the Botanical Gardens, 128.9mm or 5.1 inches of rainfall, the highest recorded in the city since 1892.
Ramsammy noted, businesses that constructed over manholes that helped with the cleaning of the primary drains around the city can take some blame in the running-off of the water from the land, since they have been for years, preventing them from being cleaned.
“People need to know when you construct concrete things over the drains with manholes it becomes your responsibility to clean them,” he pointed out. (GINA)