fter nearly three months of dry season, residents of Mahaicony Creek are fearful that there would be a repeat of the flooding they have now become used to, in the upcoming rainy season.

The last flood had resulted in residents suffering major losses in rice and cash crop and to some extent, livestock. Some residents told this newspaper that as soon as they got the opportunity they started to plant but they have been taking precautions. However, according to a few persons, the weather seems unpredictable and they are afraid to start sowing.

Shankumar, a resident of the left bank of the creek at Gordon Table said he has been making drains and clearing trenches close to his home and garden. He has even built up his land a little higher. He said too that he noticed efforts by government to spray the grass in the creek to prevent an overgrowth.

He told Stabroek News that though there had been a few days of rain the area did not experience any flooding and it was likely that the embankment and the dam that the government built on the left and right banks of the creek are helping to prevent this.

“The area is 12,000 sq miles and there is only one creek to take off the water,” he said. “So that is why the water would still get into the residential area.”

He is of the opinion that “the only genuine way to stop the water coming in is for the Mahaica/Mahaicony/Abary (MMA) scheme to continue the construction of the conservancy”, which stops between the Mahaicony and Abary boundaries.

The resident also said he was concerned that in his visits, Minister of Agriculture, Robert Persaud only ventures as far as Mora Point to keep meetings and other residents from his area were not able to express their views to him.

“It hard for residents from here [Gordon Table] to go there to meet him; gas expensive