THE record rainfall and concomitant flooding that occurred in Coastal Guyana on Wednesday, November 27, has left the Anna Regina Multilateral School {ARMS] on the Essequibo Coast temporarily closed because of flood waters.

Minister within the Ministry of Agriculture, Mr. Alli Baksh, while on a visit to the Essequibo Coast on Monday, visited the school and inspected its flooded compound and the bottom flat of the three-storey edifice, which was flooded by excessive rainfall.
In a discussion with Minister Alli Baksh, Headmaster of the school, Mr. Laljeet Rooplall, said classes had been suspended because the entire compound along with the bottom flat of the building was under some six inches of flood water.
According to the headmaster, the water is draining off slowly, and a lot of cleaning up will have to be done before classes resume.
Mr. Rooplall told Minister Alli Baksh that officials from the Department of Education also inspected the school and informed Georgetown before a decision was made to suspend classes and temporarily close the secondary school.
According to the headmaster, the dormitory was also closed, and children were sent home because the entire bottom flat of the school building was also flooded.
Minister Baksh said the flooding was as a result of the intense rainfall across the country. He said the current accretion taking place on the foreshore of the Atlantic Ocean was also causing problems with the drainage, because the outfall channels are blocked quickly after clearing.
The minister explained that the mobile pump at Anna Regina was of great assistance to drain excess rainfall water off the land in the commercial centre of the town. He said that a huge drainage pump will shortly be installed near the Lima sluice to assist with drainage.
The secondary school is expected to be back in operation on Wednesday. Some 1,055 students were expected to start writing end-of-term examination on Monday.
Chairman of Region 2, Mr. Parmanand Persaud, has said that the Anna Regina Multilateral School {ARMS] will be back in operation as from Wednesday(tomorrow).
The Chairman said flood waters have drained off from the compound; and the Regional Administration, in collaboration with the Department of Education, had done a massive clean-up exercise, whereby workers of the Community Drainage Enhancement Programme would have washed with disinfectant and other germ fighting detergents the entire bottom flat of the building that was flooded.
The Chairman said the Administration had also spread sand on areas that students would have to traverse in the water-logged compound.
According to the Chairman, septic tanks were also discharged in the clean up exercise.
Some 1055 students are expected to resume classes at the secondary school on Wednesday morning.

(Rajendra Prabhulall in Essequibo.)