CDC to visit flood-affected areas in South Rupununi
Flood-affected areas in South Rupununi to be visited by the CDC
Flood-affected areas in South Rupununi to be visited by the CDC

THE Civil Defence Commission (CDC) will be visiting and assessing flood-affected areas in South Rupununi.
Director of the CDC, Lieutenant Colonel Kester Craig said the commission and the Region’s Democratic Council is monitoring the Takatu and Ireng rivers and the roadways.

Craig told the Department of Public Information (DPI) that the main aim of the visit is to locate deficiencies in the region’s preparedness and response capability and to work towards enhancing them.

“We’ll be looking at the shelter capacity, or the status of the location identified for shelter, supplies for relief, health facilities to see if there are adequate drugs in the result of an outbreak and we will also look at the response coordination system in the region to see how we can strengthen and give them support,” Craig explained.

The CDC Director encouraged residents to stock up on food supplies and water, medical supplies and other household items since most of the roadway is cut off. For the past four days, heavy rains caused flooding in Deep South which resulted in the Wardpao Bridge across the Rupununi River to be inaccessible to residents and vehicles.

The road between communities of Katoonarib to Karaudarnauwa has been identified as the alternative route but it needs some work so that residents and vehicles can safely travel to their destinations.

Meanwhile, on Wednesday when this newspaper spoke with the Mayor of Lethem Kerry Jarvis, he shared with us that the improvements done on the drainage system in Lethem should be applauded. “There is construction of a four lane road being done in the Commercial Zone and the contractors erected a drainage system underneath which takes the built up water out into the Takatu River and Tabachinga Creek,” the Mayor said.

He said the past days of heavy rainfall did not result in the usual outcome. Within a few hours, “all the water is gone.” Except for two house lots in Culvert City who are being affected because there isn’t sufficient drainage. “The house lots weren’t officially handed over to the council, but they are still our concern. So we are working diligently to improve the drainage in the scheme in Culvert City so that they wouldn’t be affected by flood,” said Mr. Jarvis.

The Council is continuing to make improvements in their systems in the internal areas and across the region so the living conditions of people will be better during the rainy season. Last July, Rupununi was lashed with severe flooding due to heavy rainfall, causing destruction of roads, bridges, crops and homes.

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