Poor sea defences lead to overtopping at Herstelling, Providence

Mar 22, 2011 News

Many residents have complained about the sea defense structures along East Bank Demerara. These structures have on numerous occasions become dilapidated and have caused severe flooding during high tides and periods of heavy rainfall periods.
The Providence Police Station compound which also facilitates the Providence Post Office and Providence Magistrate’s Court was under a lot of water yesterday, causing anyone who wished to utilise the services offered in the compound to have to wade through the waters.
Even the police ranks had to don Wellingtons or use barricades that they used to construct footpaths leading to the Police Station.
One officer told Kaieteur News that he was not too familiar with what caused this flooding in the compound. However, he was under the impression that the koker located in Herstelling, East Bank Demerara, had “broken away” and the water was rushing out to flood nearby areas.
Another resident in the compound told this newspaper that the compound would usually become flooded after “a heavy shower” but she never witnessed it to be such an inconvenience as it was yesterday morning.
She also stated that some streets in Herstelling were badly flooded earlier in the day but she was not too sure whether the water had receded. The water in the Police Station compound had already dried up by mid-afternoon.
Some employees of the Esso Service Station located opposite of the Providence Police Station compound explained that they reside in Herstelling and have been experiencing flood woes for a number of days, because the dam at the back of the village “broke away”.
One of the employees said, “The streets flood bad the past couple of days…must do whatever you can to make sure we get some help…some ministry workers come today and just put mud at the dam, but that won’t help for long…the water keep rising over the dam and damaging it and flooding the streets”.
During last week, when the incessant rainfall destroyed millions of dollars in crops and livestock countrywide, some villagers in rural areas suffered from heavy flooding in their yards and even houses that had knee-deep water.
This newspaper understands that residents at the back of Herstelling have been experiencing problems with water overtopping the sea dam for almost one year now, and have been making complaints repeatedly to the Ministries of Agriculture and Public Works for their intervention in the matter.
One man stated, “The Minister Robert (Persaud) came and visit a li’l while back and say he gun do something…then Benn come a few days ago and today some of his workmen come with a bulldozer and put some mud back on the dam line”.
The koker operator explained that the flooding which affected residents in the past two days was not a result of the koker malfunctioning or being damaged; it was due to the high tide and the poor sea defence structure that was built at the back of the village.
The man added that Minister of Public Works, Robeson Benn, did promise to intervene when he visited the site two days ago, and that he was pleased that some employees of the Ministry did some adjustment to the broken dam.
One villager said that though he is grateful for the little work done at the location, he like many other residents, feels that more work could be done.
He said, “The mud just stop the water for now but how long more will it last? Is every time something like this happen they going to just add little bit more mud? More needs to be done, and soon!”
One Herstelling woman who told Kaieteur News that the water that accumulated over the past few days was about four inches high and she was disgusted with the fact that her two children and their friends live in the area and would have to walk in the water just to enter and exit their homes for various purposes.
“They (the children) easily catch sick and we got to pay money to make sure they live and recover. If we get proper sea protection then this could be avoided,” the mother added.

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