| …. Deputy Mayor calls for sea defence By Leon SuseranExtreme high tides and heavy downpours early yesterday morning caused discomfort for the residents of New Amsterdam,Kevin Faulk Patriots Jersey, particularly the Stanleytown and Strand areas. The Municipal market was also affected by the Berbice River, located nearby, and which had overflowed its banks.Several yards and homes of residents were under several inches of water. The owners incurred some losses.A resident of Stanleytown,Ross Cockrell Steelers Jersey, Lydia Amsterdam, who operates a shop,Le Veon Bell Steelers Jersey, stood atop her house shed in order to speak to the media, since she did not want to tread in the dirty flood waters.“The shop— I sell greens and fruits and paddy and other things dem and everything soaked. The water come up…this morning when I got up and came down, everything soaked!”The resident believes negligence on the part of the authorities was the cause of the problem.“I believe it’s part of neglect…the Mayor, the town council and who is in government, because the inter- lot (drains), they need to be cleaned!”“I called one man (from the M&TC) two months ago and showed him the inter- lot and he told me I have to move my fence before he cleans the inter-lot, so the whole water just take over the place. It ain’t getting to run out or get out”. “And the whole place stink, because the septic tank and everything stink up the whole place, you can’t even be in your house.”She stated that she had four gallons of crab oil “which I paid $10,000 a gallon for— all throw away inside there!” She also lost fruits, greens, cigarettes, etc.The Mayor of New Amsterdam, she said, passed,John Hannah Patriots Jersey, “but I ain’t get to talk to he and he ain’t stop— the Mayor pass in he vehicle with he windows wind up and he ain’t stopping to see what’s bothering we. He place is to come out and walk around. He is not walking around; he driving in he fancy vehicle in air condition on his phone!”Concerned resident of the town, Eli Hazel was harshly critical of the government for the flooding situation. “Building schools and roads is good, but then water takes away everything is a waste of time. Guyana is below sea level. Building road,Jack Lambert Steelers Jersey, it just cannot help you and building schools cannot help you, you have to protect yourself and protect the people by building sea- walls,”He said that one could get all the roads and all the schools and money “and the water will come and take away all— this government and the relevant authority should take serious note to get the sea defence looked after.”“You got to be prepared! If they had put systems in place,Lynn Swann Steelers Jersey, it could have never reached where it is here today. Some people’s homes are in water, their fridges and these things, who will compensate them for those losses?” When asked what he had to say about the M&TC of the town, which is supposed to manage the affairs of the town, Hazel was less harsh in his comments.“I cannot blame them for this, because the tide that came was just nature, but they should get things better prepared in terms of drainage…the water must run out speedily”.High winds also nearly toppled the transmission antenna of the Little Rock Television Station (LRTVS). It collapsed against another antenna close by. The transmission for the channel was knocked out for a few hours, too.Persons could not have accessed the Department of Education compound in the town since it was inundated for most part of the morning as well as the Region 6 Democratic Council Office in Vryman’s Erven.Residents were discussing among themselves who was responsible for the flooding. Some pointed fingers at the government while others criticised the New Amsterdam Mayor & Town Council (M&TC) for negligence in cleaning the town of garbage which they said contributed to the flood woes.Member of Parliament and resident of the town, Faizal Jaffarally was critical,Tony Gonzalez Falcons Jersey, too, of the M&TC. The Region 6 Administration, he said, has been repairing kokers, digging drains, cleaning canals, building streets in the town,Clay Matthews Packers Jersey, “but people need to understand— and sometimes people make unfounded and unnecessary criticisms of the Region 6 Administration. The New Amsterdam Municipality is an autonomous body and is governed by the Mayor and Town Council and in this case, the council is controlled by the political opposition, the People’s National Congress (PNC).”When contacted, Deputy Mayor of New Amsterdam, Mr. Harold Dabydeen defended the town council and said that a sea defence is badly needed in the town to prevent such occurrences from happening often. He also made a call for the Berbice River to be de- silted,Julius Peppers Packers Jersey, since the last occasion of such was more than a decade ago.“We had several inches (of water) before, but nobody is taking a corrective measure to do when a high tide is coming— neither the authorities nor the sea defence authorities” |
