— says Regional Chair, reports damage to infrastructure, farms

AFTER heavy rainfall and severe flooding for almost three weeks, floodwaters in Region Nine are slowly receding, according to Chairman of the region’s Regional Democratic Council (RDC), Brian Allicock. Seasonal flooding is said to occur in the region when water from the Amazon Rainforest in Brazil travels through the Rio Negro River to the Brancho River and, eventually, makes its way to Region Nine. “At the moment it is not coming up as rapidly as before, we haven’t any rainfall for today [Sunday]. It’s slowly receding, so we are praying that water from Rio Negro doesn’t push back into our region, because it is stable now at the moment,” Allicock told the Guyana Chronicle on Sunday.
Besides disrupting people’s daily routines, there have been several reports about infrastructure being severely damaged; this includes roads, cassava farms, and farine and bread-making shops.

“It has left a lot of damage and so on, because the roadways, some places it’s impossible to traverse, you have to get lorries to move out the buses and things,” the regional chairman added.
At the time of the interview, Allicock related that he was receiving reports from several farmers across the region on their immediate needs.
Currently, he added that the regional authorities are carrying out assessments to highlight the immediate needs of residents who were and still are affected by floods across the region.
He said that the Civil Defence Commission (CDC) has since been contacted and the regional authorities are preparing hampers and other flood-relief packages to distribute to residents.

COVID CONCERNS
While the uncertainty of the weather and flooding are concerns for the region, Allicock lamented that COVID-19 still remains a significant challenge.
With the entire region recording 226 cases, Allicock explained that since residents have been providing help to each other as they navigate the flooding, there has been an increased risk of person-to-person contact and the spread of the coronavirus. Additionally, the chairman stated that he believes that the rise in COVID-19 cases are coming from persons travelling from Georgetown into the region. He attributed the rise in cases in Fairview to persons travelling into region, since the village is located on the access road to Lethem from Georgetown, and as such, it is the first village commuters come into contact with. He further disclosed that despite the challenges caused by the recent floods, regional health authorities have been hosting sensitisation programmes to inform persons about the dangers of the COVID-19 virus and have also been conducting vaccination drives in several communities.
He noted that some areas are currently awaiting the second dose of the vaccine.

COUNTRY-WIDE FLOODING
Over the past 24 hours, the Civil Defence Commission (CDC) has continued to receive reports of flooding across the country.
In a country-wide update, the CDC stated that Regions 10, Nine, Eight, Seven, and Six are the most impacted.
Since May 18, 2021, the CDC has received reports of more than 26,000 households affected by the flooding in more than 300 communities across all 10 administrative regions.
Additionally, the CDC related that cloudy to overcast skies are likely throughout Guyana during the period of June 7 – 10, 2021 and coastal locations may experience showers of varying intensities, frequent rain, and possible isolated thundershowers. Precipitation is also expected mostly during the early to late morning hours, and is forecast to range between 25 mm and 60 mm. The rest of the country may observe scattered light to moderate showers during the morning hours, with conditions deteriorating during the afternoon and evening hours, giving way to showers of varying intensities, frequent to continuous rain and thundershowers. Rainfall is forecast to range between 40 mm and 100 mm.