BUSINESS came to a halt on Monday for shoppers and stallholders of the Stabroek Market after the Mayor and City Council (M&CC) embarked on a cleaning exercise after the over-topping of the Demerara River caused severe flooding there on Saturday.

When the Guyana Chronicle visited the market on Monday morning, all the gates to the normally busy shopping centre were locked, except for one which was being manned by a Council official.

The M&CC subsequently issued a release saying that on Monday, they will only be allowing stallholders, and not members of the public, access to the market, by way of the middle gate located at the southern entrance of the facility.
Apologising for the inconvenience, the M&CC said in the release, “The Georgetown Municipality sincerely regrets the inconvenience caused, and wishes to assure the general public that the Council is working assiduously to restore normalcy to the operations of the Market.”

In a brief interview by telephone on Monday, City Mayor Ubraj Narine, who described the situation as “an act of Mother Nature,” said it was he who passed the order earlier in the day not to open the market, since it was inundated with slush and mud caused by the flooding on Saturday.
He also said that should there be another high tide, the market may have to be closed for a few days.

Melissa Griffith, one of the few persons to have been allowed access to the market on Monday, told this newspaper that although she is a stallholder, she only learnt that the facility will not be open for business that day when she arrived to open her stall.
She explained that she was allowed in to her stall to retrieve some items she had to get and was heading back home. The woman- a clothes vendor said only a few of her goods was damaged by the flood.