Certainties of life
It has often been said that death and taxes are the two certainties of life. For Guyanese, there is one more: flooding after rainfall. The point of reference for that certainty is the great flood of 2005 and, since then, the noticeable inundation of Guyanese homes and businesses with water and debris after minimal rainfall. This observation is particularly true of Georgetown and its environs whose beauty has faded into thin air despite the modern architecture that now adorns its sky. The causes are varied: breaching of the river and sea defences, broken kokers, clogged and silted drains and canals, and irresponsible citizens. Consequently, for the last 10 years, whenever it rains, Guyanese no longer wonder if the place will flood. They expect it to happen and wonder how bad it would be. They go about life as if flooding was inevitable and the public authorities who spend their tax dollars to prevent it were helpless. This article holds the view that flooding in Guyana is as much a consequence of topography as it is the consequence of poor management and public apathy.
Low-lying state
Everyone understands that the coastline of Guyana lies below mean sea level which could make spontaneous drainage after rainfall near impossible. It is this reality that resulted in the creation of the network of canals, trenches and gutters which, along with the conservancy, have been relied on to manage excessive amounts of rainfall. When the tide is high, draining water from the land has to wait until the tide subsides because opening the kokers under high tide conditions would be more harmful than helpful. Depending on the behaviour of the tide and quantity of the rainfall, some amount of water could be expected to be sitting around, especially when the pumps do not work or are incapable of getting the job done fast enough. The expectation however is that once the tide is ebbing, the water will drain since the sluices could be opened to aid the pumps which might be at work. The key thus to preventing flooding in Guyana is the ability of the conservancy and the network of canals, trenches, and gutters to be deep enough to hold the water until collectively they could allow it to flow and drain the land through the
