FOLLOWING recent storms in Region Seven (Cuyuni/Mazaruni) , Regional Chairman , Gordon Bradford, has called for the establishment of storm shelters within the communities in the region.

Several buildings were destroyed in the village of Kako following a windstorm and Bradford told the Department of Public Information (DPI) that the Region is working with the Ministry of Indigenous Peoples’ Affairs and the Guyana Civil Defence Commission (CDC) to develop storm resistant infrastructure.

“We have identified some buildings which are concrete in nature and we know that it will take a really severe wind to remove those, so in the event of the heavy storm residents should seek shelter at these buildings,” Bradford said.

Six buildings, including a school in Kako, were damaged following the storm on Saturday. This comes following May’s flooding, which inundated Kako and several communities in the region. Bradford said there have been increased reports of stormy weather in upper Mazaruni communities.

“My information is that over the past five or six days this has been a regular occurrence around 2-2:30, 3 o’clock in the afternoon (there is) this thunderstorm, lightening, thunder, rains and the heavy winds. So, my advice to residents is to look out and be prepared,” he said.

In August, the gold-rich village of a Jawalla was hit by a storm which resulted in the death of pregnant mother Marsha Jordan. The woman was seeking shelter under a building when it came crashing down on her and her two children. She managed to push the children from under the building but succumbed to injuries she sustained during the incident.