The Leonora Hospital is undergoing a massive cleaning and is expected to be reopened on this Thursday, after being closed following extensive flooding on the West Coast of Demerara (WCD), the Department of Public Information (DPI) has reported.
At present, patients are being referred to the Mildred Cox-Younge health Centre at Den Amstel and the Uitvlugt Community Centre which are functioning on a 24-hour basis, providing health care.
Residents, largely from the West Coast of Demerara (WCD), found themselves last Friday morning under floodwaters as a result of the high tides overtopping and breaching the sea defence.
Following an extended period of high tides on Thursday, the waters began pummelling the seawalls at about 14:00hrs, and overtopping during the night and into Friday morning.
Alarmed residents of Zeelugt, like their counterparts at Meten-Meer-Zorg, Zeeburg, Uitvlugt, Stewartville, Leonora and Cornelia Ida on the West Coast of Demerara (WCD), were forced to move to higher ground, in some instances leaving their homes for safety.
Patients seeking medical care at the Leonora Cottage Hospital (LMC) also had to be referred to the West Demerara Regional Hospital (WDRH) at Vreed-en-Hoop because the Leonora facility had been inundated.
Mountainous waves of the restless Atlantic Ocean hit the seawall with such crushing force as to cause a large part of the sea defence structure to break away; and one house reportedly came crashing down as the Atlantic’s waters came rushing into the beleaguered communities, flattening a number of fences and destroying bridges, electrical appliances and furniture in some homes.
Poultry and cash crop farmers in the affected areas are now also left counting their losses as the flood waters lay siege to their communities.
(Photos by DPI)
