Latest update November 26th, 2024 1:00 AM
Region Ten residents meet over flood concerns
The Region Ten Administration, the National Drainage and Irrigation Authority and the Linden Town Council are to collaborate to address the issue of flooding in Region Ten, particularly Linden.
Some $21M which was proposed for the clearing of canals and drains last year has been earmarked to facilitate the requisite works to alleviate flooding. 
This is according to Region Ten Chairman, Sharma Solomon, along with Chief Executive Officer of the National Drainage and Irrigation Authority, Lionel Wordsworth, and engineer Raphael Gravesande, who met with Linden residents to discuss necessary interventions to alleviate flooding in the community. The meeting occurred in the lEN conference room Tuesday evening.
During the meeting residents were afforded the opportunity to voice their concerns about flooding and erosion in their respective communities.
Concerns were raised about the West Watooka , Green Valley , Kara Kara, Noitgedacht and Fairs Rust areas.
These communities were recently inundated by the torrential rains on Thursday last, and some areas like Green Valley experienced massive erosion in the form of mudslides.
Solomon told the gathering of concerned residents that he had looked at the effects of the rainfall on Thursday night, and what he saw was very intense flooding, never seen before.
He alluded to the West Watooka community, which he said lost millions of dollars in produce.
Solomon said that the spring tides and blockages in several canals and drains as well as the heavy siltation played a significant role in the flooding, many conceded.
Solomon said that he is currently looking at 27 contracts for desilting and clearing works in these areas, but that he would not be signing any of them, until verification- that is only CDC groups who are recognized by their communities as legitimate and functioning will be awarded contracts. That position was also reiterated by Wordsworth.
“Some of these CDCs don’t even exist. Residents have said that, and we have to act in the interest of these residents, because if the work is not done satisfactorily, y’all gon come and complain to the chairman.
“So I have an obligation to the residents to ensure that the CDCs function beyond drainage and irrigation work,” Solomon declared.
He added that so far he has been in receipt of some of the contracts, and that some of the areas would have been identified, based on observations. Some others are to be added as these areas need some level of relief based on what was seen on the’ ground’. “Nobody in the RDC is entitled to set up CDCs, or even the people in Georgetown. It is the people in the communities that should be setting up CDCs”, he emphasized.
Wordsworth said that the interactive session was a good one. He pointed out that during the collaborative efforts between the RDC and NDIA more than 150,000 feet of internal canals and drains would be cleared.
All the works are expected to be funded from the budgetary allocation for 2012, Wordsworth said.
Some excavation works have already begun in the Hymara and Kotara creeks.
Torrential rainfall late Thursday resulted in flooding of the Central Mackenzie business district, and several communities in Linden, including West Watooka, Noitgedacht, Green and Victory Valleys and sections of Kara Kara and Retrieve.
Some areas like Green Valley experienced landslides.
Residents in these communities had to bail water from their homes, and one woman said that her family opted to bore a hole in the concrete wall for the water to escape.
Part of the back road leading to Bucktown and the old Omai wharf were washed away, as the water washing down from the nearby hills was just too much for the tunnel which passes under the road.
Some residents reveled in this and set cast nets and caught fish.
Region ten Chairman Sharma Solomon, and Member of Parliament Vanessa Kissoon, along with councilor Douglas Gittens took time out to visit affected residents and to interact with them.
Solomon noted that calls were made since February to address the drainage and irrigation system in the community.
Ms Kissoon said that after observing some of the effects of the floods, ”We need to come up with some long term solutions to rectify these problems which we are presently being faced with.”
Some residents have suggested that stiff penalties be applied to persons who dump refuse indiscriminately, blocking drains and canals, and thus rendering communities susceptible to floods.(Enid Joaquin)
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