IN this offering, we have highlighted the serious floods which have inundated the Interior and which is one of the greatest natural disasters which have affected Guyana in its recent history.  People in Georgetown and Region Four who have been spared these destructive floods by the effectiveness of the Hope Drainage Canal, are largely unaware of the terrible suffering of our Interior compatriots and though the media have carried photographs of the flooded areas, they have not been able to communicate the enormity of the human suffering and the privations and loss of life’s savings which the flood victims are suffering.

Almost all the Presidents of Guyana from the time of independence were confronted with serious problems as soon as they acceded to office, but President Irfaan Ali has had to face more serious challenges than any of the others.  President Ali, one of our youngest Presidents, as soon as he was sworn in was met with the  COVID-19 pandemic and shortly after, with the disastrous floods. In addition, he had to bear the heavy burden of governance which included unprecedented challenges such as managing the nascent oil industry from the government’s side; engaging the diaspora in a mature and meaningful way; dealing with exhausting legal/electoral problems and executing his party’s programme of economic, social and political transformation of Guyana into a modern state.  President Ali has not been overwhelmed, but has shown his mettle by constructively meeting all challenges.

With remarkable energy and devotion, he has been leaving Georgetown and visiting the flood-hit communities, walking through the water and bringing comfort to the flood victims almost daily.  His empathy with their sufferings is reflected in his words which captures the human reality better than most journalists:
“You may not know what is happening,” remarked President Ali.  “Many of our brothers and sisters across Guyana are faced with the worst disaster we have ever had, or they have ever had, in the history of our country,  You may not see it here.  I have just returned from Olive Creek, Kurupung bottom, Jawalla and Kamarang… I spoke with people of Jawalla and Kamarang where their entire lives have been destroyed.  Everything they worked for all their lives has disappeared . . . And when you speak about the impact, I am talking to you about the farmer who grew his livestock over the last four generations, but which is no longer there today . . . Listening to a father in tears telling me that his avocado farm is completely gone, but worse, the trees will no longer be there after the floods.  With his 15-year-old son standing behind him, he glances at his son and says ‘what is this boy going to do?’ These are very emotional times across the country.  The scale of the disaster is not understood by those of us in  Region Four.”

. . . “This is going to take some doing to bring about a recovery.  Hundreds of homes have been ruined, while thousands of farms have been completely obliterated;  mining camps are empty, infrastructure in some areas completely destroyed.  Only seeing it at first hand could give you the full extent of the gravity of the disaster”.  .  . Over the last few weeks, the President has been visiting the affected communities everywhere in the country and has been speaking with them.  He and his team, including the CDC, have been bringing them emergency supplies of food, drinking water, medical supplies and medical help and arranging shelter and have even helped those who have relatives and friends who live on higher ground to get to them.

The floods have been caused by the continuous, very heavy rainfall attributed to climate change and the neighbouring countries have also been suffering in the same way.  The criticism that measures could have been taken by the APNU+AFC administration or the present administration which has been in Office for only eight months to avert these floods is therefore meaningless, since these climate change floods are unprecedented and no one could have foreseen them. The rivers do not drain, but overflow their banks, sometimes by as much as 20 feet.

The governmental authorities, in those areas where it is possible, have been trying to do some emergency drainage by the use of large agricultural machines, but are quite aware that novel solutions such as draining directly into the Atlantic Ocean as Hope Canal does will have to be considered. President Ali has already rolled out a three-phase Plan: First – Immediate emergency relief;  second – rehabilitation by rebuilding roads and other infrastructure together with restoring homes and livelihoods;  thirdly – longer-term development plans including drainage.  President Ali has already had Parliament allocate $10 billion towards the first phase.

All Guyana and people of goodwill would desire to see the country quickly emerge from the disaster, since it is estimated that the loss of GDP (Gross Domestic Product) would be more than that of the 2006 floods, which was estimated at 59 percent.