The Guyana
Flood Website
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Report of the flood for Wednesday January 26th 2005 Finally we are back up and running, problems with the Americas2 cable has been responsible for our website not being updated for the last 2 days. No, we have not been subjected to a "Sharma" as many have been speculating. The flood water have been slowly receding, the water is still covering most of the lower side roads on the East Coast but thankfully the East Coast Highway is drivable. The massive amount of water that we saw for the last few days on the Better Hope section of the East Coast Highway has moved off but the water is still just an inch or so from the highway's edge. Roads in areas such as Better Hope, Kersaint Park LBI and LBI are still covered with at least 18 inches of water, all of the bottom flats in those areas are still un water. The Sophia, South Turkeyen and South Cummings-Lodge areas are still terribly affected. There is still some 10 inches of water in the bottom flats of houses in Turkeyen (Guysuco scheme) Further up on the East Coast in areas such as Lusignan, Mon Repos and all the way past Enterprise are still totally flooded and it will be days before the floodwater moves off in order for families to move back into their homes. The road into Kersaint Park LBI still has to be traveled by boat and it is becoming harder and harder for families in the flooded areas who remained in their upper flats to get in and out. We have found a number of businessmen on the Coast have set up tent kitchens and are cooking meals on the spot for villagers. I saw one such operation close to the Starlite Drive in Cinema being funded by B M Soat Auto sales and HN Tony, I spoke to the owner of BM Soat and he assured me that his business will continue to provide this vital service for as long as it takes, our website takes this opportunity on behalf of all of our visitors to thank the management and staff of BM Soat Auto Sales and HN Tony for this outstanding showing of humanity and generosity. We also saw another such roadside kitchen that was being funded by Mr. Sam Baracat of IDI Engineering and we also wish to Congratulate IDI and Mr. Baracat for this outstanding gesture. This innovative action taken by private citizens has proven to be extremely effective because the food is being cooked right there on the spot and anyone can simply walk up and get a hot meal. We suggest that maybe the Government should indeed think of providing the meals in this manner instead of cooking it in Georgetown and packing it and having to send it all the way up the coast. There are members of the different villages who are wiling to provide their cooking services free of charge to provide this much needed service to their communities and we suggest that other business can simply stop anywhere on the East Coast and ask if anyone is willing to manage such a kitchen, I'm sure that they will find plenty of volunteers to get the job done. There are hundreds of ordinary citizens who are loading their vehicles up with food and taking it up on the East Coast to assist the flood victims and while I may not know of your good deeds, please know that we are thanking each and everyone of you. I Have personally seen the owner of Chetson's delivering bread and other items to flood victims, I also saw the staff of Kaieteur News sharing out bread in Industry, yesterday we saw the Macedo family with a pickup van full of bread heading up the Coast. If you know of someone or a business and there are many who has been contributing to the flood relief, please email us the information and we will publicise the information on our website.
We visited the PNC/R's food packaging center at NBTV Ch 9 this afternoon and they were busy putting together hampers to be shipped out to families affected by the flood. When I was there, a Canter Truck containing bags of rice and other items was being offloaded. The PNC/R has requested of us to encourage businesses to contribute to their relief effort and I am taking this opportunity fulfill that promise. A bag of rice is just G$2500.00 or US$15, you can buy the items yourself and take it into any of the packaging facilities. They desperately need every bit of help so that they can help others.
Flood photos for Tuesday January 25th 2005 Today Tuesday January 25th, we took a drive up the East Bank of Demerara to see what the conditions were there, throughout the entire trip, we only saw dry land. We paid a visit to the 5 door sluice to see the operation there, although we were not allowed to take photos from the inside, we still managed to get a few shots from the outside, hundred of thousands of gallons of water was flowing through this massive structure. This 5 door sluice is one of the exit points for the conservancy that winds all the way from Mahaica. Creeks from the mountains also drain into this massive waterway. The conservancy was built by the Dutch during the period that they controlled Guyana during the 17th century. Fellow team members, Mr. Sheik Yassen and Camille Gonsalves have been hard at work collecting and distributing food items to families in Ogle. Yesterday Mr. George Bagwandin donated 30 gallons of cooking oil to our group and we have received biscuits, bread and other food items which we have already distributed. By the way, the apartment of Sheik and Camille is presently under at least 22 inches of water and yet these two outstanding Guyanese are out giving of their time and money to assist others. Congratulations Shiek and Camille. The following photos will give you an idea of the conditions today.
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