Floodwater that inundated sections of Mahaicony, East Coast Demerara, on Thursday has slowly started to recede but farmers still fear major damage to their crops, according to Chairman of the Region Five Council Vickchand Ramphal.
Ramphal told Stabroek News yesterday that while the water continues to flow inland due to breaches in the sea defence, it has started to recede slowly due to there not being heavy and consistent rainfall over the last few days.
However, he said it still poses a huge risk to farmers.
Breaches in the sea defence have left rice and livestock farmers threatened by rising saltwater and some have already recorded millions in losses while others are fearful that they will lose millions more should the situation take a turn for the worse. Some farmers have already given up on the current rice crop as water from the Atlantic Ocean has begun to seep into their farms.
The sea defence, which separates farmlands and the ocean, broke away on Thursday afternoon. That stretch of sea defence has been eroding for some time and the farmers said they made numerous complaints to the authorities but nothing was done.
The breach in the sea defence poses a threat to over 1,500 acres of rice fields and several livestock farms. Farmers said the breaches lie along the sea defence between Dantzig and Fairfield and approximately eight sections have broken away along the stretch.
Ramphal said it was related to him that the Ministry of Public Infrastructure’s River and Sea Defence Department would be addressing the situation.
He added that farmers are still very frustrated and are afraid that they might lose all of their crops.
“I would’ve highlighted this issue a long time ago and no one took it seriously and now today we are seeing the real effects. I highlighted about the entire section from Fairfield down to the Mahaica Breach at the Bellamy canal and what happened there,” he said, while noting that there is a need for immediate reconstruction of the sea dam, especially the section that eroded and also remedial works along the entire section.
“When the first breach had occurred persons within the region would’ve
refuted what I said and tried to cover up the situation. But if they had come on board and approached the situation together and lobby the government for resources, we could’ve prevented all of this,” he added. Ramphal said that so far, over 60 acres of rice farms have been severely damaged, with more than 1,500 exposed. The Ministry of Public Infrastructure, in a press release on Sunday, said that it was aware of the severe erosion of the river embankment and as a result has commenced emergency works at the Prospect and Broomhall areas to secure the vulnerable stretches.
It was also stated that 2,000 tonnes of boulders were delivered to vulnerable sections at Prospect and Broomhall for placement along the sea dam.
