No reported case of flooding in Region Six

Dec 15, 2008 News

NEW AMSTERDAM , BERBICE – “There is no reported case of flooding in any area in Region Six; however, there are reports of excess water lodged in some canals within the different communities, especially in the Lancaster/Manchester area.”

Region Six Chairman Zulfikar Mustapha

This is according to Region Six Chairman, Zulfikar Mustapha.
He said that the excess water was drained by sluices that operate on a tidal basis.

Region Six recorded three and three-quarter inches of rainfall between 20:00 hours on Thursday and 08:00 hours on Friday. This was the highest during this present rainy season.

The system in East Berbice /Corentyne is designed to allow for the drainage of one and a half inches of water within a 24-hour period.

According to him, there was no need for the use of the hydro-flow pumps in the Region. There are hydro-flow pumps at Seawell, Borlam, Liverpool, Eversham, Rose Hall Town and Number Forty-six Village. These have the capacity to pump between 30,000 and 35,000 gallons of water per minute.

Due to the present situation in Region Four, a multi-million hydro-flow pump that was stationed at the Hydraulics Division at Whim was loaned to the National Drainage and Irrigation Authority (NDIA) until the water recedes in those areas.

The mobile standby pump was given to East Berbice /Corentyne to use in the event of floods and to assist in draining any affected area. Sometime back it was used at Pepper Sluice at Cumberland in East Canje as well at Number Sixty-five Village along with other areas as the need arose.

Meanwhile, Mr. Mustapha indicated that outfall channels are being excavated at Bloomfield/Letter Kenny, Whim, Liverpool and Number Fifty-one Village where there was a problem with the slow flow of water. Work began at Whim on Friday and should be completed by the end of this week.

The contractors were getting things in place and were scheduled to commence work at Letter Kenny/Bloomfield and Number Fifty-one Village yesterday.

The Region Six Chairman appealed to residents to desist from throwing garbage in the internal drainage system, especially Styrofoam and plastic containers. He indicated that the main canals are sometimes very low and when the internal drains are clogged it results in flooding within the residential areas.

Chief Whip of the People’s National Congress and Regional Councilor, Winston Samuels, said that in the Number Fifty-one Village area and surrounding communities on the Corentyne, there is no known case of flooding.

At the Macedonia/Joppa area – Number Forty-three to Number Thirty-five Villages on the Corentyne – there was also no report.

People’s National Congress Regional Councilor and Neighbourhood Democratic Councilor Leila Clarke, yesterday said that she visited the areas within the Neighbourhood Democratic Council and residents were in no way affected. However she said that in the Olverston/Alness area there were complaints of excess water, “The streets in the residential area are all clogged up – they want cleaning. So due to that the water has nowhere to run.”

The Regional Chairman Zulfikar Mustapha met with pump and sluice operators across the Region on Thursday last to discuss and highlight the importance of manning the structures on a timely basis.

Almost $83 million was expended on the drainage and irrigation system in East Berbice /Corentyne this year, as budgeted, and in total, some $150 million was pumped into this sector to further improve the system.

This, he said, would result in an increased acreage of rice being planted this present crop in Region Six – just over 50,000 acres. Cultivation of this crop began in October.