Latest update April 17th, 2025 9:50 AM
Region Six braces for heavy rainfall
NEW AMSTERDAM, BERBICE – As the Region Six Administration gears up in anticipation of heavy rainfall, Chairman Zulfikar Mustapha is appealing to residents to desist from disposing garbage in waterways. This, he said is one of the major causes of flooding in East Berbice/Corentyne. Another contributing factor would be structures, without the necessary specification that encumber drainage canals.
Region Six Chairman Zulfikar Mustapha
According to him, there was no report of major flooding so far this year. He attributed this to frequent maintenance of the drainage and irrigation system in some sections. During the recent heavy rainfall there was excess water lodged at Crabwood Creek and Scottsburg. According to him, this occurred because the Number Eighty-three Sluice is undergoing repairs. Mustapha said that the highest amount of rainfall recorded this year in Region Six was during May when there was approximately six inches during a 24-hour period.
The general structure in East Berbice/Corentyne is designed to allow for the drainage of one and a half inches of water within a 24 hour period. He is optimistic that with the rigid work programme executed this year and last year on that sector, fewer areas would be affected during heavy rainfall. The Regional Administration is focusing its attention now on draining the housing areas. Several sections of East Berbice/Corentyne are prone to flooding. These areas – Nigg, Belvedere, Albion, Number Nineteen, New Amsterdam, Port Mourant, Whim and Rose Hall Town among others would be given extra attention, he claimed.
The Region Six Chairman said several sluices, in areas along the East Bank of Berbice and some sections of the Corentyne, were rehabilitated earlier this year at a cost of $15 million. Excavation work began on major outfall channels at Adventure, Eversham, Letter Kenny, Bush Lot, Wellington Park, Number Fifty-one, Seventy-three, Sixty-six and Forty-three Villages. So far 80 percent has been completed at a cost of $30 million. This is jointly funded by the National Drainage and Irrigation Authority and from the $101 million Region Six Drainage and Irrigation 2010 Capital Work Programme. The remaining outfall channels should be finished before the end of June.
The Administration has also placed hydro-flow pumps at strategic locations such as Seawell, Borlam, Whim, Rose Hall Town, Liverpool, Eversham, Number Forty-three Village and Crabwood Creek to assist in drainage of water during heavy rainfall. A backhoe is also clearing drainage canals within the Bloomfield/Whim Neighbourhood Democratic Council and would be relocated to other communities as the need arises.
In the Number Nineteen district, an independent outfall channel was built late 2009 at a cost of $12 million. Another is to be constructed by the National Drainage and Irrigation Authority through the Ministry of Agriculture to drain excess water from that community directly into the Atlantic Ocean. The bid is now at the National Procurement Board and the contract would be shortly awarded so that the project could be completed within a few months. This area is also serviced by the Seawell Sluice and a hydro-flow pump.
Fyrish/Gibraltar is also known for its ability to accommodate excess water. The Borlam Sluice and Outfall Channel are now back in operation after some $8 million was spent in 2009 and this would also assist those in the Fyrish/Gibraltar neighborhood.
A permanent pump is also located here to back up the Borlam sluice. A section of the Number Nineteen Village would also release water in the Borlam area where a canal between Number Nineteen and Borlam was excavated late last year.
The residents of Albion/Port Mourant – Block Four, Tain, John’s, Miss Phoebe and Hampshire are all to derive benefits from the drainage structure placed at Miss Phoebe.
Drainage and irrigation workers are being deployed to clear out the entire system and make way for the water to flow from the internal drainage system to the main canals.
In East Canje, the Pepper Sluice at Cumberland Village was reactivated and the Rose Hall Estate Sluice in Canje is also back in operation.
In West Canje and the East Bank of Berbice, all the drainage systems are said to be up and running. Some restoration work was executed recently on the Sandvoort Sluice. No major work was done in New Amsterdam itself.
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