…but flood waters continue to rise in Rupununi

THE relevant authorities were, up to late Monday, said to be rendering whatever assistance they could to bring relief to at least 50 flood-affected villages in the Rupununi, as water levels continue to rise despite fair weather conditions.

The flooding, which is caused by persistent rainfall in the area and which led to the overtopping of several major waterways, has impacted a number of farmlands within the Region.

The Lethem township also remained under steadily rising water levels on Monday, causing the authorities to contemplate closing schools one week ahead of the official closing date.
Efforts were reportedly being fine-tuned on Monday to address the situation, and according to Lethem Mayor, Carlon Beckles, with weather conditions over the

next 24 hours likely to be critical, the region’s disaster preparedness plan has been activated.
The floods are caused by overtopping of waterways in the area, namely the Tabatinga and Moco Moco Creeks, as well as the Rupununi River, and the Takutu and Ireng Rivers on the border with Brazil.

The latter waterways have been impacted by waters which rose in the Rio Branco River in the neighbouring country.
Beckles commended the efforts of the Central Government, the representatives of which he said were on the ground to obtain a first-hand assessment of the situation. He said that the situation on the ground was not as serious as the 2011 floods.
Prime Minister, Moses Nagamootoo along with Minister of Communities, Ronald Bulkan on Monday paid a visit to the flood-affected areas in Lethem, after meeting with regional officials and officials of the Civil Defence Commission (CDC) and discussing what plan of action was being implemented.

Regional Chairman, Bryan Allicock, who also attended the meeting, told this newspaper that to date, the regional administration has received reports from 50 villages which have been affected by flooding.

Those reports, he said, have come from the toshaos of 14 villages in the North Rupununi;

seven in the Karasabai District sub-region; 13 in Central Rupununi; 11 in the South Central; and nine in the Deep South. He said that at the moment, the farms in the villages have all been swamped.

Allicock said that since Sunday, efforts were underway to assist the affected villages, and according to him, the army has been on standby to provide transportation to those villages which were cut-off by the floodwaters.
Lethem businessman, Daniel Gadjie has reported that between midnight Sunday and midday on Monday, the water level in the municipality had not only risen some six inches, but was on the verge of encroaching on areas that had not been affected before.
Gadjie noted too that the water in the nearby Takutu River was moving at a fast rate, which he said is a good sign.

Gadjie posted pictures of the Santa Fe rice farms which he noted were under flood waters. The Santa Fe farms span a total of 29,000 acres of arable lands in the North Rupununi. The rice lands are supplied with water directly from the Ireng River through a gravity irrigation system.
Rice grown at Santa Fe is exported, while ground provision and other cash crops are sold in Lethem.
Meanwhile, the communities of Parishara, Nappi and Hiowa remained cut off from Lethem on Monday because the access road is almost completely under water.
The Region Nine (Upper Essequibo-Upper Takutu) river system is integrally linked to that of Brazil, and when there is heavy rainfall in the Amazon, or even in the mountains, that water runs into the Rio Branco River.
The western half of Regions Eight (Potaro-Siparuni) and Nine are drained by the bordering rivers, the Takutu and the Ireng, which flow into the Rio Branco, Brazil, and downwards to the Amazon.
These river basins are overloaded and have overflowed their banks.