Little Diamond residents say excavator operator’s negligence caused flooding
– calling on the contractor to compensate them for damage
– Agri. Minister expresses dissatisfaction with response to forewarning of breach
Approximately 130 residents from Little Diamond, East Bank Demerara are now counting their losses after an intrusion of water from the Demerara River flooded their homes.
According to residents, there was a breach in the sea defence yesterday but only a few persons were affected. The residents said that water began rushing into their homes around 3:30am on Monday. They claimed that, due to the amount of water coming in and the rate at which the water was flowing, they were unable to save any of their valuables.
Agriculture Minister Zulfikar Mustapha, upon receiving reports of the incident, visited the area to conduct an assessment of damage. Upon his arrival, residents were seen removing a number of damaged household items while others were working to clean their homes and yards as floodwaters had receded to some extent.
Habeed Franklin told the Minister that there was a small breach in the dam yesterday. However, he noted that when residents informed the operator that the water was rising, no effort was made to address the situation.
“They dig it out and left the dam just like that and it break yesterday. Yesterday afternoon they come and…When they dig out the machine the thing breach and they never fix it back. Now, this morning it’s the same thing happen again. The day before yesterday that same machine de bruk down. They send for a machine, the machine tek it out. They were supposed to block back the sea defence. They never did that. Yesterday when these people place flood out and we tell the excavator operator that these people place flood out he said is just the dam get water, nobody else place ain’t get water. This morning when he come now and see wuh people de talking about he ain’t say nothing,” Mr. Franklin said.
One resident, Asha Kumar, who also experienced flooding, said that someone needed to be held responsible for the damage they have experienced. She too placed blame on the excavator operator for the extent of the flooding residents experienced.
“This time somebody gotta pay for these damages. This is very unfair. If it was Mother Nature, we woulda give in but this is the operator’s fault. Somebody has to be held responsible for this. When we tell him that water was coming into our yards yesterday, he cursed us. When he came and saw what was going on this morning, he didn’t even say a word to us,” Ms. Kumar said.
Another resident said she and her family are left without clothing and food as all the groceries in her fridge and cupboard had to be thrown out.
Taramattie Saktua, a resident who operates a small poultry business, said that she lost over 70 per cent of her animals due to the flooding.
“I had some chickens here and all from the bottom level died. I had to throw them out since yesterday. All the feed and so damage. I hope this set I have left survive,” Ms. Saktua said.
Residents told Minister Mustapha that when flooding is expected, they would usually receive an alert but, because of the nature of the flood, no warning was given, and as a result, they were unable to save any of their belongings.
One resident also said he and other persons in the area who own vehicles are worried that their vehicles may experience issues as they too were unable to take their cars to higher ground. He further stated that placing sandbags in their homes could not stop the flooding as floodwaters appeared to be coming from all directions.
Minister Mustapha, while commenting on the situation, said the contractor and his workers should have been more aggressive in their efforts to fix the initial breach in the dam.
“Based on what residents are saying, the breach was caused by the negligence of the operator who was hired by the contractor currently executing the works. Residents reported that there was a machine on the dam that was built and it seems as though that machine had some issues, and when attempts were made to remove the machine that resulted in the breach. Yesterday there was a first breach and attempts were made to fix it. Now today, over 100 houses were flooded. Persons lost a lot of household appliances. I believe the contractor should’ve been more aggressive in his attempt to rectify the initial breach. Apparently, yesterday, when there were signs of the breach and residents, informed the operator, nothing much was done to stop it and as a result this morning we had this incident,” Minister Mustapha said.
The subject minister said he has since asked the National Drainage and Irrigation Authority (NDIA) to prepare a detailed report on the incident and that the Ministry will be working with the Civil Defence Commission (CDC) to see what form of assistance could be given to those affected.
Residents are calling on the contractor responsible for executing the works to fully compensate them for their losses. They maintained that, if enough attention was given to the issue when reports of flooding were made to the operator in the first instance on Sunday morning, things would have been different.
Minister of Home Affairs, Robeson Benn, Minister of Public Works, Bishop Juan Edghill and Minister within the Ministry of Public Works, Deodat Indar also visited the area and met those affected.