Minister within the Ministry of Public Works Deodat Indar is urging residents to keep their surroundings clean in a bid to prevent flooding whenever there is heavy rainfall.
He made the remark following a visit to Belle West, West Bank Demerara (WBD) where several houses are flooded.
“In this area, almost everywhere you go there is drainage [issue]…there are plastic bottles in the drain causing the water flow to impede,” he observed following his inspections.
“I am advising residents to clean your environment…because every community we go, somebody block a drain, somebody is not weeding it, there is vegetation inside and that slows up the drainage…we found people in this neighbourhood who are doing construction works and blocking the drain so water from the neighbours and other sides can’t pass,” Minister Indar added.
Residents have suffered from major damage to properties and they have lost livestock and cash crops.
However, Minister Indar noted that the main priority of the government is to ensure food and shelter are provided to residents. According to him, the response to the flooding situation has to be “measured” since communities countrywide are affected by this natural disaster.
“What we found is a number of residents underwater here, livestock has been destroyed, property has been damaged we here to do an initial assessment, we are going back to the region with the Regional team and the councils and son on. We are going to try to get some relief to the people, our main priority is to make that people have food and make sure that they have places to sleep.”
The Minister stated that damages to the property of the residents in Belle West will be look into on a later date due the entire country being affected to some extent and that the main priority is to respond to citizens in a measured way.
Meanwhile, authorities have already deployed excavators to the community to assist in cleaning the trenches and improving drainage.
With more rainfall expected throughout the week, Minister Indar urged residents to keep their appliances and valuables on higher grounds.
