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BE PREPARED FOR THE WORST

Feb 25, 2011 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

The amount of rain that drenched the coastland in matter of a few days this week should have, by previous standards, led to widespread flooding reminiscent of the Great Flood of 2005.
There was indeed widespread flooding – as much has been admitted by one minister of the government who indicated that some 60-70% of the residents of the country would have been affected. But it is also true that this time there was a rapid drain-off of the waters in most areas, indicative of improved drainage.
There are many locations still affected by waters. In some agricultural areas, efforts are being made to save young rice in the fields. In other areas, pumps are still being used to drain-off water coming from the backlands as well as the waters which will eventually be released from sugar lands.
The situation is however not as a dire as in 2005, and therefore credit must be given to the authorities for being able to effect some improvements in the system, even though there is still a far way to go.
It is hard to avoid accumulation of water along the coast after intense and protracted rainfall. Gravity flow can only drain so much, because of the flatness of the land. And so, traditionally, houses were built on stilts in recognition that so long as more than two inches of rainfall fell there would be flooding. With gravity flows, however, the water receded and things would be restored to normalcy.
However over the years, the drainage systems became compromised and instead of being able to drain 2 inches per day, the system began to drain about 1.5 inches per day. Some say even less.
Since the Great Flood of 2005, which many still feel was due to overspill from the conservancy, there have been attempts to improve the system and the rains of the past week, tested just how effective have been the interventions.
Among the most important works undertaken were the installation of a great number of pumps and the de-silting of a number of canals. These works no doubt contributed to the effectiveness of the drainage system and were boosted by effective crisis management when it appeared that Guyana may have had to brace itself for a repeat of January 2005.
The system has been tested and has shown improvement. Those involved should be commended, but they must also realize that the system is nowhere near the level where it ought to be if losses to agricultural production and the destruction of property are to be avoided from floods in the future.
There is need for continued improvement and this means that the public must pay attention to value for money, because despite the billions spent on drainage and irrigation structures since 2005, flooding could not have been avoided.
The performance of the system also revealed its limitations. In certain areas, water still remains on the land and this shows that there is a need for holding ponds to keep the waters until they can be released at low tide.
Unfortunately, most of the seaside lands are being occupied and this reduces the amount of lands available to hold water. Given that the waters released from the sugar company is drained through the same system that drains residential areas, these holding ponds would have come in useful in aiding the quick drainage from the farming and residential areas.
These are things which the government should look at as it seeks to continuously improve the system. The next high intensity rainfall may not be 8 inches. It may be as high as twenty inches and therefore we must be prepared for the worst.

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