THE two persons left in charge of the River View koker, who residents alleged slept through the high tide resulting in massive flooding in that community and Alexander Village, were handed letters on Wednesday directing them to proceed on administrative leave.

Public Relations Officer Debra Lewis told the Guyana Chronicle on Thursday that she had been advised by Town Clerk Royston King not to make public the names of the two officers until the Mayor and City Council (M&CC) does an investigation.

The two men, the supervisor and pump attendant, were directly involved in the operations of the sluice when the tragedy occurred. In the meantime, Lewis said arrangements were put in place so that the koker can continue to function, and it is to come under increased supervision. City Engineer Colvern Venture was asked by King to provide an analysis of the conditional of all sluices/pumps in the city.

Lewis also informed that M&CC’s environmental officers were deployed to the affected areas on Thursday to distribute cleaning agents. The residents were also invited to a meeting with Mayor Patricia Chase-Green today (Friday) for discussion of the way forward regarding compensation. Residents, who woke up Wednesday morning to flooding in their community, complained of losses worth millions of dollars. The mayor, in a walk through, described the situation as unfortunate and sad and conceded that she observed lots of damage.
The Town Clerk told reporters that the Council regrets the unfortunate circumstances which resulted in widespread flooding in the two communities, due to what he termed “overtopping”.

However, residents have blamed the koker attendant who they said fell asleep and left the koker door open during the rising tide. “I was coming home from wake at 12:00hrs and I noticed that the water was coming in from Ruimveldt (Police) Station area. We see the koker door open. It went high. We hear get up, get up, like this man sleep away and left the koker door open; so said, so done. By the time we knock at the door, the water done start coming in. The most we get fuh do is put up the chair them…” one resident of Alexander Village told the Guyana Chronicle.

A teacher from the same community pondered who was going to compensate her family for their losses. “Everything in my house is damaged right now; the chairs, the fridge, the vanity, the computer. I am a teacher. That [computer] is one of my main tools. Who is going to reimburse me these things? It is no fault of ours but the fault of the guy at the koker,” she said.

She explained that she was forced to have her young daughter sit on her verandah for hours so as to prevent her from being in contact with the dirty water. Another affected resident, Travis Spencer, recounted the ordeal: “We wake up this morning and suddenly a whole set of water keep rushing in. Fridge, TV nearly fall down; chair set wet up and damage. All in the fridge get water. I had to run and leave work to ensure my stuff pack up.”

Another resident said he was almost electrocuted Wednesday. “By the time I wake up, everything under water,” the man said, as he carried his young daughter on his back. Many of the affected families questioned how they would be able to replace their damaged items and whether they would receive any form of compensation.