Returning spring tides swamp Glazier’s Lust, Columbia residents
The return of the spring tides, which will be in effect until Monday, has left several residents on the northern side of Glazier’s Lust and Columbia, Mahaicony, counting losses and fearing that even worse lies ahead.
With a breach in the Mahaicony Sea Defence between Dantzig and Fairfield, residents between these communities are vulnerable to severe flooding due to overtopping from the Atlantic Ocean.
Since the first severe spring tide in July, government had commenced emergency works on the porous sea defence. Currently works are ongoing simultaneously at Dantzig and Fairfield.
As of Friday, approximately 6,000 tonnes of 18,000 tonnes of boulders had been placed and works were still ongoing.
Yesterday residents said that despite making preparations for the spring tides, they still suffered losses.
As the tide rose, residents explained that water quickly overflowed from drains and canals and made its way into their yards and livestock pens.
Residents said they observed the water levels rising at approximately 3 pm and in low lying areas it was up to knee height.
According to the high tide warning issued by the Civil Defence Commission, the tide was at its highest at 2.54 pm at 3.20 metres. Today’s high tide is expected to be at its highest at 3.33 pm at a height of 3.29 metres.
When Sunday Stabroek visited the community yesterday, residents were wondering what to do given that a higher tide is expected today.
Tanesha (only name given), one of the residents who was severely affected, told this publication that within minutes water crept into her home.
“We see the water rising and by time we were trying to block it from one end, it reach into the house. It just happened so fast we know it was coming but it was higher than the last one,” the woman related.
She noted that at the time she was the only one at home and most of her furniture and appliances were left in the floodwater.
“Everything in my house soak. There is nothing much I can do now because the next tide is coming higher and I don’t know how high I can put up my furniture,” she added.
Her flock of sheep, which is housed in a pen at the back of her home, she said, had to be moved to the front of the yard where the land is higher. She is hopeful that water from the next tide would not invade the dry ground the flock is resting on.
At another residence, Zanne Singh, a poultry farmer, explained that she suffered tremendous losses. She estimated that her losses lie at approximately $240,000.
“The pen is high but the water raised so high and quick and the birds drowned. We couldn’t have done anything. When I see the water raising like I got so confused because of how quick it happened,” the farmer related.
She pointed out that she had to move approximately 300 birds to a makeshift pen at the front of her yard.
During the visit by this newspaper, she showed bags of birds that died and were cleared from the pen following the high tide yesterday.
“Look, these are birds that drowned that we take out from the pen. Water is still in the pen and more birds are probably behind there,” she said, while pointing out that it was the third time she was suffering losses and had not seen anyone from the government or Ministry of Agriculture visiting to assess their losses.
“About 2,000 birds would have died from the high tides because of this situation. I cancelled a lot of orders on baby chicks… I am a farmer, my husband works yes, but this is what we do as well for a living it is hard for us,” Singh stressed.
She noted that she had to leave her flock of sheep with a neighbour because her yard does not have the dry land to accommodate them.
Premchandra Doodnauth, another Glazier’s Lust resident, said that due to the fact that her yard is low lying, it easily becomes waterlogged. She noted that her livestock is always under threat. Taking precaution to prevent water from entering her home, the woman said they have placed sandbags at the entrances.
“We have to put sandbags because you can see this yard is flooded and when the tide comes the water is higher so the sandbags help,” she stressed.
The woman noted that at every flood they suffer losses and she echoed Singh’s lament that no official from the Ministry of Agriculture is visiting to assess their losses. “This is what my family live on. Rearing livestock. My husband don’t do any other work so every time the animals dead when we get flood we feel it,” she lamented.
Over in Columbia, the neighbouring village, Camille Mahadeo said, “When I got home everything was floating in the house” as she gave a tour of her inundated bottom flat.
She explained that the water level in the bottom flat was shin high and items were floating about the flat. “I didn’t expect the water level to raise so quick[ly]. I stepped out for a few minutes and when I come back the taxi boy said, ‘Aunty, look wah a go on there!’ I watch and the whole place was flooded,” she recalled.
The woman stated that it was the second time in a few weeks she has been suffering losses.
She lamented that the excavator operators contracted by the National Drainage and Irrigation Authority refused to acknowledge her request to cap a mud dam behind her house to keep the water from flowing over. She noted that if that were done, her damage would have been minimal.
Residents also related that a part of mud dam that was recently capped, deteriorated and that contributed to the excess water rushing onto their lands.
Sections of the sea defence embankment along the Mahaicony shoreline are currently being impacted by major erosion of the foreshore and depletion of the mangrove fringe.
“At Mahaicony, significant stretches of earthen embankment have been subjected to severe erosion and overtopping due to the exceptional natural erosion of the foreshore and the depletion of the system of mangrove. The critical condition of the shoreline has escalated due to the impacts of the current spring tide. Major breaches have occurred releasing salt water into the adjacent Bellamy Canal and agriculture lands. The Ministry has been executing emergency works at this location since March, 2019 to reinstate and protect compromised sections of embankments,” a release from the Ministry of Public Infrastructure had said last Thursday.
In recent weeks, civil engineering companies BK International and A&S General Contractors Incorporated have been working day and night to repair the breached sea defence, measuring 3km, between Dantzig and Fairfield.
According to Chief Sea and River Defence Officer Kevin Samad, works being executed are financed through a contingency allocation made by the Ministry of Finance. “These resources are being utilised to engage multiple contractors … to achieve faster implementation,” he was quoted as saying by the ministry.
Samad added that while the works being executed are a medium-term solution, in the future they will have to look at implementing a more resilient flood protecting plan.
“…Future adaptation of the sea defences will be required to achieve a more resilient flood protection scheme. This overall integrated and strategic approach will require that consideration be given to implementing foreshore stabilization measures and landward offsets that would enable adequate retention spaces to absorb overtopping discharge when extreme events are experienced,” he said.