AS with many other parts of the country, several communities on the Wismar shore of the mining town of Linden continue to battle floods resulting from heavy rain fall, coupled with high tides. The communities, many of which are located along Burnham Drive, are flooded every time the tide rises, which has been occurring frequently over the past week.

While Linden is not deemed a flood-prone area, since it is located in the Hilly Sand and Clay Region, what has been blamed for the flood is a faulty koker located on the corner of

Burnham Drive and Poker Street and in its current state cannot effectively drain the water into the Demerara River.

The issue was highlighted to the Ministry of Public Infrastructure (MoPI) but the situation was not remedied in time for the May /June rains since the ministry was tending to several other projects in the town. Over the weekend, communities including Christianburg, Poker Street Area, the Alleys and Silver Town were all flooded and up to Monday water remained high.

According to Regional Chairman, Renis Morian, who visited the communities over the weekend, the situation will continue as long the tide raises and the koker is not fixed. On Tuesday Morian received a correspondence from Chief Executive Officer of the National Drainage and Irrigation Authority, Frederick Flatts, who stated that the matter has been brought to the attention of the NDIA, as well as the CDC, and is being acted upon with urgency. Engineers from the MoPI are also expected to visit Linden on Wednesday to have a firsthand view of the flooding in an effort to remedy the situation earliest.

Meanwhile, hundreds of residents are continuing to battle the flood waters, while some are battling the after effects of the flood. One of the major concerns of the residents is the unsanitary conditions that they are faced with and the water-borne diseases that they are exposed to.

Residents are also calling for assistance from the relevant authorities to assist with cleaning supplies and food stuff since much has been lost over the past few days. Resident of Third Alley, Shevon Adams, explained to the Guyana Chronicle that the flood is something she is experiencing for the first time and the loss is immense. “Sometimes the place use to flood yes, but not the house, never the house, right now ya can’t even bale ya just have to sit and watch because ya start to bale and rain fall and water come up again, right now I am so confused like I want to know if is a dream, the distraught resident said.

Mayor of Linden, Carwyn Holland, visited the Alleys on Monday and tried to give consolation to the residents while seeking assistance for donations. “I want to say thanks to Minister Harmon for responding to our concerns because persons are under severe stress dealing with the situation in the area, persons are complaining about their skin scratching them, in addition to medical practitioners coming to assess the situation, we need food items for the residents etc, I have made contact with several municipalities for help with whatever they can give,” Holland posited.

Meanwhile, residents of the farming community of Speightland located on Mackenzie are also battling with the after effects of the flood since the water has not completely receded in some areas. Speightland was hit hard with the flood, as was Coomacka, and residents counted their losses in the hundreds of thousands. In addition to food stuff and household appliances, residents also lost crops, poultry and livestock. Chairman of Speightland’s Community Development Council, Kevon Lorrimer, said that about 35 residents were severely affected.

“One resident, she lose two of she pig, they drown, she didn’t know the water was so high until she wake up and see the pig in the water and the pig done drown, another lady lose like over 100 chicken,” Lorrimer revealed, adding that the Speightland flood resulted from the mouth of the Kara Kara creek being silted with sand, thus allowing the water to back up instead of draining into the Demerara River.