30 minutes of rain causes flood in G/T

Sep 13, 2010 News

Residents and workers of various areas around Georgetown were justifiably aggravated yesterday since just thirty minutes of rain resulted in flooding across the city.

Effects of 30minutes rain

In the last few days, locations all along the coast and river banks have been experiencing flooding as a result of spring tides; however, the flood that affected various parts of Georgetown yesterday was not because of spring tides.
According to a number of persons in the Leopold and Broad Street area, the smallest amount of rain usually causes floods. Jacklyn Lagnah, a shop owner, says she is highly disappointed since she had not gotten a single customer since the street had been flooded.
Outside the Stabroek Market, taxi drivers were concerned about the water they have to park their cars in.
Junior Jordon (taxi driver) claimed he took a nap in his car, after it started raining, and approximately 15 minutes later when alerted by his colleague he realised he was parked in a flooded area. The man claims that he is forced to either go home or look for another work area since business became “very slow” as a result of the flood.
Mayor Hamilton Green told this newspaper that since Guyana is below sea level it can only be gravity-drained, necessitating the use of canals. The Mayor added that “we” foolishly blocked some of our canals which reduced effective drainage. He then identified some of the places that were canals but are now blocked such as La Penitence and Merriman’s Mall among others.
The Mayor pointed out that sluices are unable to work under conditions of high tides and Guyana has been receiving a fair amount of such.
According to Green, the pumps in areas such as Kitty and Lilliendaal were unable to function since the areas had no electricity. Green claims that this is the reason he initially requested pumps that would be able to work without electricity; however, they were not provided.