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Several drainage pumps fail as city is submerged
City Mayor, Hamilton Green, has blamed continuous heavy rainfall, 
non-functional drainage structures and clogged drains for flooding in and around Georgetown yesterday.
Green held an emergency press briefing at City Hall where he said that even if all the drainage structures were operational Georgetown would have still experienced flooding because of the City’s capacity to drain only one inch of rainfall in a 24-hour period.
He stressed that during the course of the rainfall Georgetown experienced 5.15 inches of rainfall which is unusual but added that with unpredictable weather patterns anything is possible.
Green emphasized that visits to the various drainage facilities across the Capital City, Georgetown earlier during the day revealed that the relief structures at Kingston, Princes Street, and Lamaha Street were non-functional.
He stated that the structures stopped working abruptly and blamed mechanical and 
human resource constraints for them being overlooked.
Green added that the structure at Lamaha Street failed, owing to human error but assured it would be functional before the end of the day.
The structures at Kingston and Princes Street are currently being repaired and would be operational within the next two weeks.
Green emphasized that these pumps are expected to be rehabilitated every three years but owing to limited financial resources, the Mayor and City Council is unable to execute these pertinent functions.
Meanwhile, the drainage structures at Kitty, Liliendaal, Rivers View and JP Santos were operational.
However, during the afternoon while the Mayor and City Council was working to relieve Georgetown, the pumps at Kitty and Liliendaal, which complement 10 outfall channels, had all stopped working.
The Liliendaal pump station that receives electricity from Guyana Power and Light 
experienced a power outage.
Green noted that previously a request was made to Prime Minister Samuel Hinds to have an additional power line supply that pumps stations with electricity owing to constant power failure in the area. However, to date nothing was done.
Meanwhile, the pump at Kitty was forced to halt operations for several minutes to allow City workers to clear garbage including metal drums, plastic bottles, and wood from the drainage canals grills.
The grills at drainage canals have been installed to stop debris from flowing into the pump.
Whenever the water level drops, some materials including planks flow into the pump slowing the water pressure and could even damage the machine.
According to Green, the citizenry of Georgetown continues to be indiscipline, dumping garbage along parapets and in waterways.
He opined that citizens fail to realize that Georgetown is already below sea level.
According to Agriculture Minister, Dr. Leslie Ramsammy, La Nina phenomenon still persists over Guyana.
It isn’t expected to subside until the first quarter of 2012.
Dr Ramsammy has also noted that over the past 24 hours (February 28 to February 29 at 8:00 am) rainfall measured in excess of 120mm in most coastal locations.
This exceeded the amount of rainfall expected for the whole of February for most locations.
For example, Georgetown averages 92 mm of rainfall in February, but on February 28 to February 29, the City experienced rainfall of 129 mm.
During the next 24 hours, overcast conditions with intermittent rainfall activities are expected to continue over coastal regions and near inland locations and rainfall quantities may exceed 50.0 mm, Dr. Ramsammy said.
Other parts of the country were also flooded.
They include Regions Three, Four and Six in areas such as Winsor Forest, Canals Polder, Blankenburg, Parika, Naamryck, Greenfield, Beehive, Anns Grove, Hope, Little Diamond, Herstelling, and Black Bush Polder.
In addition, high water levels were experienced in La Jalousie, Den Amstel, Hague, Meten-Meer-Zorg, Vergenoegen, Roden Rust, Pouderoyen, Goed Fortuin, Parfait Harmonie and farmlands in Handsome Tree, Mahaica.
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