THE Government’s initiative to bring in 28 mini-excavators in 2013 and to deploy them along the coast has helped immensely to mitigate the impact of the heavy rainfall that has been experienced during the rainy seasons and over the last nine days in Regions 2, 3, 4 and 6.This was the view of Minister of Local Government and Regional Development, Ganga Persaud as he updated the media on the situation at Airy Hall, Essequibo.
High water level and saturated land are being experienced along several villages on the coast following frequent showers that were experienced over the last few days. This resulted in the breaching of the Airy Hall Conservancy Dam in Region 2 and the flooding of the rice lands in the community.
Minister Persaud yesterday reported that the Region 2 community continues to be under threat as the dam which was sealed around 6 pm on Sunday was again breached around 03:00 hrs yesterday morning, undoing much that was done.
He reported that works were in progress to “get as much discharge as we can into the Atlantic Ocean with the deployment of pumps.”
The water remains high in the Charity area and also in Pomeroon, but the minister reported that a collaborative effort to address the situation was underway among the Ministries of Agriculture, the National Drainage and Irrigation Authority (NDIA), Local Government and Regional Development and Public Works, the NDC, and the RDC “to bring relief as fast as we can to affected areas and residents in the areas.”
He reported that four mini-excavators were delivered to Essequibo Coast yesterday morning while a pump was deployed to the Charity area.
Meanwhile, Chairman of Region 2, Mr. Parmanand Persaud has said the Regional Administration, in collaboration with the National Drainage and Irrigation Authority (NDIA), is working round the clock to have the breach sealed in the dam of the Airy Hall conservancy.
Mr. Persaud said work is ongoing at the site to bring the situation under control. The Chairman said a contractor, Mr. Manboardram Sukhai, has already driven wooden piles and was expected to seal the breach by late yesterday.
The Region 2 Chairman, who visited the area several times since the breach occurred, said fields with young rice plants and the entire housing area in Airy Hall sands are flooded. Reports said the dam of the conservancy ‘bucked’ after water rose to dangerous levels during extreme rainfall over the past days that created an eight-feet breach. This caused a large volume of water to flood rice fields, cash crops and the houses in Airy Hall sands.
Mr. Persaud said the night the breach occurred the NDIA was informed and actions started immediately to get a contractor on site to seal the breach. The Chairman said desperate efforts were made to prevent water from flowing to the housing area and the fields with young rice plants by the contractor but all the efforts failed because of the extremely high level of water in the canal.
Many farmers reportedly came out to help the Regional Administration in its fight to stop the water and save the community and a second attempt was made on Sunday to seal the breach but during the night the force of the water pushed away everything that was placed across the breach and large volume of water from the conservancy rushed out and covered rice fields, farms and the housing areas. Water was said to be as deep as eight feet in many areas.
Mr. Persaud said while the breach is being blocked, the administration along with NDIA will focus on getting the high build-up of water off the land. He said portable pumps will be set up to help drain the area.
Meanwhile, Chief Executive Officer of NDIA, Mr. Lionel Wordsworth and Region 2 Vice Chairman, Mr Vishnu Samaroo were at the site yesterday afternoon inspecting work that was in progress to seal the breach.
Minister within the Ministry of Agriculture, Mr. Ali Baksh was also on site and met farmers and residents whose fields and houses were under water. The minister also inspected the breach and the conservancy dam. Rajendra Prabhulall)