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  Report for Sunday January 23rd 2005.

My road trip for Sunday January 23rd started with a strange looking creature jumping off of the grill gate of my garage and landing right in front of me, now with all this talk of gators in the water, you can imagine how close I came to actually learning how to walk on water, lol. Undaunted I walked in waist deep water out of Turkeyen and teamed up once more with fellow flood watchers Sheik and Camille. We were extremely lucky today that it only rained once and that only lasted for about 15 minutes. We decided to visit some of the relief centers and paid visits to the Civil Defense Commission's Headquarters located in Thomas Lands and the Red Cross Center in Kingstown to see how the relief programs were getting along.

I then left Sheik and Camille and accompanied a Red Cross volunteer team to Better Hope on the East Coast to give out much needed food supplies. Better Hope is one of the hardest hit areas and it was amazing to see the quantity of garbage that was floating around, I asked a resident why it was that their area had this much debris and I was told that there is no garbage collection system for the village and as such residents are forced to bury or burn almost all of their waste, they explained that the burning and burying period for the waste is normally at the end of the month and as such most of them were caught with a huge amount of stuff when they floodwater came in mid month.

Sunday's weather report: Today was mostly sunny except for a heavy shower of rain at about 2PM, thankfully that lasted only about 15 minutes. The water level has dropped off just a few inches, there is still over 3 feet of water in most places on the East Coast, the East Coast Highway itself has almost knee deep water in the vicinity of Better Hope as some of our photos will show. Unconfirmed reports reaching us indicate that some 5 persons have died so far from drowning due to the flooding, we will check to see if this is indeed true, we know of 2 such confirmed incidents.

The level at the gate just before I left the house at 12.45PM The lizard like jumper that boosted my heartbeat limit Our faithful Toyota Sprinter persons waiting for food  at the Civil Defense Commission Cooked food already boxed and waiting delivery
A good stock of empty boxes will guarantee that at least some will get a hot meal The logo of the commission, a lot of p's in the make up of this logo The Guyana Red Cross Headquarters in Kingstown Boxes of biscuits being offloaded by volunteers. Lots of hampers already prepared, this lot was gone in minutes
Volunteers getting hampers organised for delivery You can see that there is quite a lot of food stuff in each hamper volunteers getting the shipments ready Michelle DeGoes volunteering her services. This pretty Miss lending a helping hand
The Lilliendaal pumping station is now backed up with a second pump filled water tanks on the east Coast highway courtesy of Guyana Water Inc People liming on the highway just trying to stay on dry land Lots of children with no place to go or play Villagers of Plaisance just trying to stay on dry land.
Cars and trucks fighting with the flooded road We reached Better Hope and found it flooded out Wasting no time, the volunteers went to work Loading the boats to go into the Better Hope village Dominique Mendes with cigar worked well past 10 PM, this Guy never stops working.
About to move off. This is what the road looked like from our boat view "Captain" Robert Lewis manned our vessel DDL's staff volunteered their services Alicia Katideen showing good rowing skills
This villager showed us the way around Better Hope DDL's Nyron Samaroo handing over hamper to this thankful villager This is what the road looks like with everything possible floating on it Red Cross volunteers heading into a flooded yard to give out items The eyes of these villagers tells a story of despair
Villagers in knee deep water collecting their packages More deliveries She must be feeling a sense of relief, even if its only temporary Enough food item to last at least a week With the floors covered in water, there was nothing else to do but leave
The Better Hope Well under threat of flooding out Just one flat and halfway under water Everyone suffered with this flooding Sharda Chand of DDl's advertising Dept overlooks the operation Another villager of Better Hope receives his items
The look on this gentleman's face was worth all of the hard work "When will the water go away" they asked, we had no answers for them This kind hearted group headed by Mr. Rajpaul of Kitty was giving out boxes of cooked meals It is heroes like these who give this country a fighting chance Lucky thing this home was built off the ground
The seawall mud dam showing the effect of constant usage These cranes were part of the pumping operation at Better Hope Warm smile for the Red Cross team My Irish medical friend Darran Martin decided to improve his tan and help at the same time. Anything to avoid getting wet again.
Hampers being collected from the verandah A smile or two can overcome the deepest floodwaters Housewife collecting her hamper on her roof Sometimes getting wet was unavoidable This family living at the edge of the flood waters
This cute little Fella seems perturbed by the floodwater. When the gates were wide enough, we sailed right into the yards. This is what makes it all worth the hard work The glum faces tells of the despair Collecting their hampers.
The floodwater was so high that we just sailed right up to this housewife on her roof Crews hard at work to get the water moving. Vehicles parked near the seawall to avoid the floodwater This pump was located at the Better Hope seawall How do you even think of going out under these conditions
"Captain" Azad DeAbrew surveying the scene Loris Nathoo, DDL's senior management personnel dong his bit to help out What do you do when the floor is covered with water and there is no place to sleep? Even in danger, she still remembers to smile This gentleman came all the way out to receive his hamper
With his hamper held high, this gentleman thread carefully home. The Better Hope ground flooded out. This extended family received extra hampers They came from other flooded areas, the Grandmother told us Getting the necessary details for future aid support
Almost done here but much more home to help water and more water, even after all 36 pumps worked all day. This was the scene as we made our way from Better Hope Its not a river but the East Coast Highway Persons with no place to go.