PM, Agriculture Minister visit flood-affected Charity

Jan 06, 2021 News

CDC to assess situation today; another pump to be sent to area

The visits by the ministers to Charity, Region Two yesterday.

Kaieteur News – Prime Minister, Brigadier (ret’d) Mark Phillips, and Minister of Agriculture, Zulfikar Mustapha, yesterday visited the areas that were affected by flood waters in Charity, Region Two.
During their visit to that Essequibo coast area, Prime Minister Phillips assured residents that his government has both a short and long-term plan, which he believes will remedy flooding in the community.
Reports are that the community, which is located within close proximity to the Pomeroon River, was severely inundated, following heavy rainfalls over the past few days. Kaieteur News understands that poor drainage was the single leading contributor to the flooding.
Residents told the ministers yesterday that the water rose from within the trenches, which in turn flooded their residences. One resident also said: “We not sure if the koker working, or if the pumps even working, because for the past few days the water was just there and it wasn’t going down. Our understanding is that the pumps weren’t working when they should have.”
The Minister of Agriculture said that NDIA has been monitoring the situation, and have been implementing systems, which will get the pumps operational.
“Based on the reports we have received; we are here to see what assistance we can give to you…our technical team will be monitoring the situation from NDIA and other sector. We are here to see what other intervention we can give to see what can be done to help the situation.”
The Minister said a pump will also be relocated to Charity. The Minister believes that this move will increase the rate of which the water recedes from the area.
The Prime Minister also told residents that the Civil Defence Commission will be visiting the area today, in an effort to make an assessment before relief efforts.
The Prime Minister said: “We are not only here to see what has occurred, but the Civil Defence Commission will also be coming in here tomorrow (today), and they will be doing a further assessment as to the damages and they will be bringing with them some relief supplies for the community. So we are here to have a firsthand look and to see how persons are affected in this community.”