Heavy over night rains, coupled with a lack of drainage in Guyana’s capital, left many wards under water Saturday morning.
Parts of Kitty, Cummings Lodge, Bel Air and South and Central Georgetown were all flooded.
Residents in some of the affected areas are calling for more action from the cash-strapped city council, so as to avoid the recurring problem.
” The city council does nothing to help us out of this mess, the drains are clogged, the garbage piling up and we are the ones suffering,” said one Kitty man, who was busy trying to keep flood waters out of his house.
Several businesses in the country’s shopping centre was closed, while some are threatened by flood waters.
This is the second time in less than 24 hours the city was under water.
The municipality said that it cannot execute drainage works, since it does not have the man power, machinery and finances to do so.
Out of the city’s four excavators, only one is serviceable and on Thursday, works minister Robeson Benn told Parliament that his ministry offered to repair the three other excavators, but the municipality has not taken up the offer, despite its poor financial status at this time.
Georgetown, which lies below sea level and in close proximity to the Atlantic Ocean, over the years has been a victim of flooding due to heavy rains or high tides.
According to experts, the city’s drainage system can only take off a 1.5 inches of water from the land, however with more intense rains, residents may now be forced to accept flooding as a normal activity.
