Kokers being left open during the spring tide in order to irrigate drought-stricken farmlands on Leguan, in Region Three, resulted in dozens of homes on the island being flooded yesterday.
According to information gathered from residents living on the island, stop-log doors were removed, with the permission of the Neighborhood Democratic Council (NDC), from kokers at Amsterdam, Blenheim, Success, Thierens and Phoenix by farmers in those villages in order to give their farmlands much needed relief from the intense heat that has been plaguing the island recently.
However, after the doors were removed, the open kokers were left unsupervised. This resulted in homes across those villages named being flooded. However, homes located close to the kokers felt the brunt of the floodwaters, which came rushing in once the spring tide occurred late yesterday afternoon.
When contacted by Stabroek News, the Regional Engineer, Seenarine Nandram, related that at least 50 homes from four of the villages had been affected. He said the doors at Success and Amsterdam, which were recently installed, were completely ripped off their hinges, while the doors at Blenheim and Phoenix were just raised too high. He said that floodwaters at Blenheim and Amsterdam reached a water level of two and a half feet, while floodwaters at the Success and Phoenix were merely a few inches.
Nandram stated that considering the fact that the high tide will last until 4 am, there was nothing much they could do. However, he said, a team from the Ministry of Public Infrastructure was expected to place a “bunk door” at the kokers of Success and Phoenix last night. However, he said, re-installation of the doors will have to wait until the tide goes down so fixing and re-installation will be done today.
The Civil Defence Commission (CDC), in a brief statement, said it received reports of flooding in several communities and was gathering information and preparing to deploy support for the Regional Democratic Council Disaster Response Mechanism. It added that the National Emergency Monitoring System remained activated and could be contacted on 226-1114, 226-1027 and 600-7500.
According to Jettoo (only name given), who is a resident of Blenheim, his home, which is directly opposite the open koker, started flooding around 3 pm yesterday and the floodwaters kept rising until it was three feet high. He said when he realised what was happening, he scrambled to place sandbags at the doors of his home.
The distraught man said that the farmers got permission to open the doors from the NDC and admitted that he was not too pleased when they went to open the Koker yesterday. “I told them that is spring tide and they shouldn’t open it too big but that is what they do and the place flood to at least three feet of water,” he stated.
He further revealed that he spoke with the overseer of the NDC and he learned that that the farmers from his village were given permission to open the koker two times a week last week but they opted to do so this week instead. “Now, majority of the village flood,” Jettoo lamented.
Additionally, Jettoo said that he understands that the farmers need the water to save their crops but at the very least, he said, they should have left persons monitoring the koker so prevent such an incident from happening. “Now we got to wait until the tide to go down before we can lock the koker,” he added.
A taxi-driver of Blenheim, who lives at the forefront of the village, said that his yard was not flooded and that the location of his home may be the reason why. However, he said, his farm, including his fish pond, where he kept his hassars, was flooded. He fears that the fish have escaped with the rushing water.
Meanwhile, a member of the NDC and proprietor of Endeavour Plantation Estate, Sunil Sharma, stated that two days ago the Endeavour koker was opened to assist farmers with access to water to save their crops. He said that during that time a few yards—but not their homes—were flooded. He said those are the persons who don’t plant rice or know how much it costs and how hard farmers work to get a successful crop.
He further stated that those persons had water for approximately two hours in their yards after which it receded. Sharma confirmed Jettoo’s statement, saying that farmers applied to open the kokers last Monday and Tuesday but after not getting any water during those days, they applied again and a bell was rang in the village to notify the residents that they would be opening it on Wednesday. It was then that the flooding occurred at his village.
When asked if there was any way they can irrigate their farms without the villages being flooded, he said that there is a way but when contractors from other places go to work on the infrastructure, “they break more than fix.” He said a broken dam next to the Endeavour koker, which was broken down and “mashed down badly,” was the main reason that his village was flooded in the first place. However, he said the NDC has plans to reconstruct the dam soon. “But for now I can assure you, nobody will not want water until next two months if the rain doesn’t fall. By then the dam will finish too,” he assured.
Further, he stated, the reason why they were opening the koker during this tide is because the next tide waters will become salty, which will be of no use. He added that when he realised that the crops and soil needed water, they started pumping water out of the trench but it soon ran dry.
