Georgetown Swamped

Feb 13, 2026 News

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…Four-hour rainfall paralyses city, floods homes and businesses

By Shania Williams

(Kaieteur News) – Several wards of Georgetown and its coatland were swamped on Thursday after hours of heavy rainfall, leaving streets submerged and causing widespread disruption to homes, businesses, schools, and public services.

Residents and business owners spoke candidly to Kaieteur News about the challenges posed by the flooding.

“Is everything in my house and yard soak as soon as I get a lil heavy rain too steady,” Pamela Downing a resident of Camp Street told this publication. The woman, a retired public servant said that the flood tends to destroy her household amenities. She said that as a citizen of Georgetown for most of her adult, she has become used to the recurring flooding following heavy rainfall.

“My carpet and mats will have to either wash or throw away. I will lose, I always lose in the situation because nobody will buy those things back for me,” the visibly frustrated resident related.

Camille Austin who owns a catering business said while her stall was not affected by the flood waters, the rains did affect her customer flow. She explained that her customers are usually workers from the commercial banks, nearby businesses, schools and government agencies. Kaieteur News spoke to some store operators in the Charlestown area, who complained that it takes less than 15 minutes of heavy rainfall for areas around their businesses to become inundated particularly in flood-prone areas. They too noted that the flooding particularly affects the customer flow.

Nihal, owner of Tiles R Us, expressed exhaustion over the persistent flooding at the entrance of his business. “We don’t even need heavy rain fall for this place to be flooded. About 15 minutes rainfall and the place already flooded,” he said.

The businessman said he was forced to construct a temporary bridge to allow customers access to his store. “Some places are flooded and some persons are not equipped with long boots, so no one wants to come. When people see this makeshift bridge, it’s definitely not safe, but we had to do something to allow customer access. It’s very disturbing. There is a big trench around here and all the council can do is cut the road and put in a pipe so that the water can drain faster. Some measures have to be put in place for this,” he added.

At the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC) —the nation’s primary emergency healthcare facility —doctors, nurses, and patients, encountered significant challenges accessing the services due to the severe flooding. Commuters like Keniviha Gooding, who regularly work in the city, also experienced major disruptions.

She said she frequently encounters difficulties getting to work whenever there is heavy rainfall.  She told this newspaper “I was going down King Street to get to work on South Road and on my way, I was met with a body of water. I had to walk in the middle of the road while vehicles were driving. I had to wait until there weren’t as many vehicles so that I could walk, because on both sides there was water. It got to a point where there was no other way for me to go further and I had to retreat and walk all the way back to Robb Street and go around to get to work. It was frustrating.”

She added, “Guyana is the fastest-growing economy and Georgetown is the capital city. Why would you keep your capital city like this? I can’t keep coming to work and having to walk in water because of the diseases you can catch. It is really terrible and it is really affecting me.”

Andrew Arthur who commutes from the West Demerara to the city for work spoke of his struggles due to the flooding. He said “This morning really affected me because riding to work, some streets in Georgetown had very high-water levels and it was difficult to get to work on time. It makes me wonder what the money was used for in helping with the drainage system.”

“Where is the improvement in the city when it comes to drainage?” he questioned.

Another person who spoke to this publication on the condition of anonymity said though not personally affected, he believes more needs to be done to manage flooding. “Even though it was not a long rainfall, it was a heavy downpour. The persons in charge of this nation should do more in terms of managing resources to cater for natural causes like this. Monies were allocated last year and this year, is the government actually doing what they outlined in their estimates? Has the money been spent effectively? I don’t think so. What happened this morning is a natural cause, but with strategic planning and effective spending, this would not have been the case,” he said.

Mayor of the Georgetown City Council, Alfred Mentore raised concerns about the monies being allocated for drainage in the city but however seeing little results. A total $81.9 billion being allocated for drainage in this year’s national budget and $73 billion last year, the city continues to experience severe flooding.

“We didn’t have this kind of problem before as it relates to drainage even though the drains have been improved and I understand with development there is great amount of inconvenience but they have been inconveniencing the citizens significantly,” he stated.

Mentore blamed contractors hired for road and drainage works, accusing some of executing poor canal construction. He alleged that some canals were made smaller and not deep enough to accommodate the expansion of newly built roads.

“What I know for sure from the budgeted amount for enhancement of the city of Georgetown, I think that’s about $2.7 billion was granted to the local government ministry to do a number of things to enhance the city. I heard that most of those monies were spent but I’m not sure where was it spent,” he said.

He further claimed that some drainage works carried out by the Ministry of Public Works reduced canal sizes and lacked proper depth. He also accused contractors of failing to implement systems to prevent earthworks from blocking drainage systems during rainfall.

“A lot of those works to me would have small in those canals and they didn’t give it the kind of depth. A number of those contractors have not been taking care in putting systems in place in case there is rain fall and how can they be able to remove the earthen drains or having the works that are blocking up the system to cause the water to float up. These contractors have not been doing their work properly. The concept of having concrete drains instead of earthen drains, they small in those canals,” Mentore explained.

When asked about maintenance of drainage canals, Mentore said the Mayor and City Council are playing their part but emphasised the need for collaboration with the Ministry of Local Government and Regional Development. He explained that once the budget is passed, smaller contracts will be awarded for drain cleaning and maintenance.

“We are now budgeting for this new period where we are issuing smaller contracts for internal drains. External drains and canals are handled by the government from an NDIA perspective. We will have small contracts for maintenance, but before that, we have to clean some of them,” he said.

Opposition Leader, Azruddin Mohamed was on ground and visited several flood-affected communities. At Stanleytown, West Bank Demerara, he observed water inside residents’ homes and bedrooms. During a live broadcast via his social media page, residents showed Mohamed the poor state of drains in their communities, many of which were clogged with bushes and debris, hindering the flow of water and worsening the flooding.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Public Works in a statement released via their facebook page said following the hours of rainfall, the Hydrometeorological Service confirmed a peak accumulation of 96.7 mm, recorded in the South Ruimveldt area.

According to the statement a ministerial task force—including Minister of Public Works, Juan Edghill; Minister of Agriculture, Zulfikar Mustapha; and Minister of Housing and Water, Collin Croal—conducted high-level site visits alongside technical engineering teams in high hit areas. Minister Edghill reportedly inspected critical infrastructure in Independence Boulevard, Sussex Street, Lodge, Wortmanville, Campbellville (Dennis Street and Conversation Tree), and Ogle to identify and implement immediate remedial measures.

Engineers have confirmed that all primary sluices and drainage pumps are fully operational. While significant runoff has been achieved in the majority of affected areas, focused drainage efforts continue in low-lying zones. To support these efforts, heavy machinery, including excavators, has been deployed to desilt clogged culverts and restore optimal flow. The Civil Defence Commission (CDC) has been mobilised to provide direct assistance to residents whose properties sustained flood damage.

The government remains committed to ensuring the safety of all citizens and will continue to monitor the situation until water levels in all communities have fully subsided.

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• flood, Georgetown, heavy rainfall, swamped

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