Highest volume of rainfall recorded in decades -Gov’t to invest more in City drainage
Georgetown, GINA, November 20, 2014
Based on an assessment done by engineers following the heavy rainfall, the highest recorded in Georgetown with 186 millimeters, (7.25 inches) of rain in a 24 - hour period, Government will have to invest more resources in drainage infrastructure in the City and along the Coast.
This was told to the media today by Minister of Public Works, Robeson Benn during a press conference, at which Local Government Minister, Norman Whittaker and Minister within the Ministry of Finance, Juan Edghill, Town Clerk (ag), Carol Sooba and City Engineer, Colvern Venture and Ministry of Works’ Chief Engineer, Walter Willis were present.
Teams of engineers and ministers, prior to the press conference visited several sluices around Georgetown, including Sussex and Princes Streets, Ruimveldt, Riverview, J.P Santos, and Kingston, among other areas.
“We will work with Agriculture (Ministry) to see where we can put in pumps and enhance draining, that is making some embankment cuts…the chute further to the south. The affected areas we will look and see where we can install some pumps,” Minister Benn said during the press conference held at the Ministry of Local Government and Regional Development, Kingston.
Minister of Local Government and Regional Development, Norman Whittaker engaging a staff at the Muneshwar’s pump during a visit around the City.
The heavy rainfall had resulted in extensive flooding in Georgetown, the lower East Bank Demerara and West Demerara, and Essequibo Coast.
Minister Benn explained that the drainage systems located on the Coast are designed to take off 1.5 inches of rainfall in any 24 hour period, hence the reason for the significant flooding.
“We have 5 or 6 percent more than the normal rainfall that can be handled through the drainage infrastructure on the coast …given the difficulty of excessive rainfall, we expect over the next two to three days, there will still be water on the ground…we are not the only affected country, you might know that there is this low pressure system also hanging over Trinidad which resulted in significant flooding in that country,” Minister Benn further noted.
He said that the ministry’s staff have examined the drainage infrastructure in terms of the pumps and kokers and looked at the outfalls, and they will be closely monitoring the drainage over the next few days to enhance reduction of the water. The sea and river defence engineers are also monitoring the situation on the Coast.
A flooded section of the City
Despite the massive clean-up across the city under the “Clean up my country” initiative, targeted areas are still under flood with significant amount of bottles and Styrofoam boxes floating.
Minister Whittaker noted that despite the cleaning persons are still dumping waste in the drains, causing blockage. He charged persons guilty of such act to desist from doing so.
Meanwhile, Minister Edghill pleaded with citizens to ensure that every effort is made to ensure minimum damage at the household level, and urged citizens to take the necessary health precautions to ensure that there is no outbreak of any epidemic.
“We are all in this together…climate change is a reality, these kind of systems will come from time to time and we have to ensure that we have adequate measures in place so I will think that we need to commend both the Ministry of Public Works and Local Government for quick actions, but there is some responsibility that citizens have to take on,” Minister Edghill pointed out.
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