The Guyana Flood Website 

  Report for Sunday, February 6th, 2005

 Sunday February 6th 2005 indicates that we are 23 days into the flooding on the East Coast, 23 days of pure agony and distress for some 200000 residents of the affected villages. For the first two weeks, the concern of those affected was simply worrying about the damage the flooding was creating to their their properties and possessions, now it has shifted to worrying about the polluted germ infested floodwater that has already claimed more than 12 lives so far and the number is expected to climb. Guyana is in a serious crisis and the government simply cannot handle the situation on their own. There is need for more international assistance especially with the urgent need for higher volume pumps to really move the water out of the villages further up the East Coast.

This flooding is simply not from the rainfall alone, the black water that was visible before it became muddy and infested clearly indicated that it was water from the conservancy. The Government has stated that a lot of the floodwater came from overtopping of the conservancy but that there has been no breach of the conservancy as many are speculating. The month of January has recorded its highest level of rainfall in recent history, this coupled with the massive amount of water coming down into the conservancy from the highlands such as Timehri and other areas.

We have had unconfirmed reports that farmers in the Mahaica area in a bid to save their farms and crops had blocked the heavy flow of water that was coming down from the higher regions of Guyana such as Timehri so instead of allowing this water to flow through their area, had actually diverted this massive amount of water to the conservancy instead thus seriously overloading it's capacity.

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 Guyana Citizens Initiative for Flood Relief press conference

The photos below were taken at a press briefing held Saturday February 5th at the headquarters of the Guyana Citizens Initiative for Flood Relief at the BWIA's office, Robb Street, Georgetown. Various presentations were made and we carry highlights from this briefing.

 Major General retired Joe Singh in his presentation called for decentralizing of the relief effort and empowering of the leadership of the different villages to handle their own delivery of relief items, the retired General called on President Bharat Jagdeo to address the people of Guyana and to tell the nation about the seriousness of the situation and to explain to the nation how his administration intends to deal with with the crisis at hand.

 Dr Surendra Persaud, Chairman of the Guyana Medical Association detailed the danger of water borne diseases that were now very much present in the floodwater after three weeks and called for evacuation of the affected villages.

 Head of the United Nation survey team told the gathering that the UN knows of the flooding in Guyana and are presently compiling information that will be used in their relief effort for Guyana.

Accountant Christopher Ram in his financial update called on the Minister of Finance to make the necessary adjustments through the Central Bank of Guyana so that the commercial banks can assist stores engaged in hire purchase arrangements to give some form of relief to their customers, he said it was unfair to expect that the stores would have to bear the brunt of the burden since they have financial obligations of their own to satisfy.

Retired Major general Joe Singh addresses the gathering	Head of the UN survey mission in Guyana.	Dr. Surendra Persaud, head of the Guyana Medical Association	Christopher Ram giving an assessment of the financial impact of the flood	Mile McCormick makes his presentation about cleaning the affected areas
Artist Moore makes his contribution	Members of the audience	Members of the technical and data team	Major General (R) Singh makes a point during his presentation	Satellite image of the flooded East Coast Villages

  Photos of the East Coast taken on Sunday February 6th 2005 

After filling up my car's gas tank for about the 10th time since I started tracking the agony of this terrible flood on the East Coast, I once more drove up the  East Coast to Enmore to bring you the photos of the villages as I saw them, some of them were dry but many still flooded with bacteria floodwaters that has already taken some twelve innocent lives.

These photos reflects the exact condition of the various villages as of today Sunday February 6th 2004. We are now closing off week number three and heading into week number four of this terrible disaster that has changed the lives of everyone who it has touched. The smiles and laughter that were here just one month ago are now gone, replaced with glum faces and persons wondering just what the future holds for them now that they have lost almost everything that they had worked so hard to achieve over their lifetimes.

To count the losses at this time would be impossible, hundreds of millions of dollars in personal belonging have been totally destroyed. The floodwater left my home at Turkeyen ECD about 10 days now but it was only after the cleaning started that you realise how many items that you thought were safe were actually soaked and totally destroyed. Bryan Mackintosh

This extra smart lady was actually fishing with this net in the trench at Better Hope	This guy will be presented with the Einstein's trophy a bit later this week for fishing in a dirty germ filled trench	The road that runs alongside the Better Hope ground	Hammer and nails to get the place a bit more like how it used to be	The water stain on the Better Hope ground fence tells you how high the floodwater got
Better Hope North	The Better Hope Church was a lot drier today	If the road has water, then the yards would be flooded still	The floodwater has now left Atlantic Gardens	Atlantic Gardens was a bit damp in some places
Starlite Drive-in's entrance will need a lot of cleaning	Montrose North was a lot drier today	Rebuilding their bridge in Montrose North	The main koker at Montrose North	Sheniza & Mark helping with the cleanup in Montrose, no gloves, no shoes
The roads in Happy Acres is drivable once more	Cleaning up in Happy Acres	The flood affected everyone equally, as this pretty house shows	The Castle located in Happy Acres, its a really beautiful building	Cleaning up but no protective footwear in happy Acres
Kevin Jeffery, Jerry Max and a friend discussing the flooding	This old man was washing his shirt in the trench, aren't you supposed to get smarter when you get older?	This young lad actually was taking the water from the gutter to wash out his yard in Triumph North	If the road still has water, then it figures that the yards will be flooded as well	Triumph cemetery still under floodwater. Such areas should be sprayed with chemicals.
Cleaning out this trench at Triumph	Meat being sold in the open at Mon Repos	More meat selling in the open at Mon Repos	Chicken being sold at Mon Repos, dirty trench is right behind	We have shown this fence before, this is how the watermark was today
The scene at Lusignan today looking west	The scene at Lusignan today, looking east	Bridges to hopefully keep out of the dirty water	Good Hope North still under floodwater	Good Hope public road, the floodwater is still jut inches away from the road's edge
The IEL pump at Good Hope making a tiny difference already	Water to his knees at Good Hope	The cinema at Good Hope still under water	Just before Lusignan	This boat still had enough water to sail on
The Lusignan floodwater is still as high as ever	These cows were using the bridge on the public road as their new homes	This gentleman got it right, protective boots and gloves	Fetching water to their homes thanks to Gaffors	Everyone pitches in to help including this pretty Miss of Lusignan
Just outside of Lusignan	People have no choice but to go through the dirty water	Dogs on the Lusignan public road checking out this dead donkey. Lunch is ready boys.	Lusignan residents still have to use boats to get to their homes	This is where the water is in my yard this lady was telling me
This is how much water in still in the village of Annandale	Annandale residents still have to deal with this much water	Speedrite at Annandale still flooded out	A medical team giving out medication in Annandale	This Annandale man was till floating on his Styrofoam boat when we passed today
Road side toilet in Buxton, adding more germs to the already dirty water	Waiting for food hamper to be delivered, the sign says	Flooded out road in Buxton	The Guyana flag flies alongside the Ethiopian flag in Buxton	These fellas don't do deliveries only pickups
The floodwater is way past this Guy's knees in Buxton	Getting water upstairs the hard way in Buxton	The Buxton gas station still under water today	Looking into Strathspey from the East Coast main road	This stand was still doing business at Strathspey
This girl was taking water inside to do some  washing at Strathspey	Strathspey still with a lot of water	Strathspey School  closed until flood leaves	These  kids at Strathspey cant wait to restart their lives	Strathspey road tell the story of the present condition
More water than the eye can see every place you look	This dog at Coldingen guarding his home	Balancing on this piece of wood to get out of their yard	Coldingen road still with water to drive through	Cologen residents wading through floodwater that has been here for 3 weeks now
Enterprise	Melanie	Melanie North	Bachelors Adventure	Bachelors Adventure
Bachelors Adventure	Bachelors Adventure	Bachelors Adventure	Bachelors Adventure	Road into Bare Root
Gloves but no protective footwear	GDF taking this boat into Dassel housing scheme	Roads in Dassel housing scheme still under water	A house in Dassel still flooded out	Foulis
Enmore	Enmore	Enmore	Enmore	Enmore
This Morris van slowly makes its way out of this Enmore road	Its easier to push than ride, seconds later this guy on the bike rode into my side mirror and broke it off	This truck was sharing hampers door to door in Enmore	For a moment I thought this fella was was Amita Bachan.	This is where the Railway Embankment ends at Enmore
Out on the East Coast main road at Bachelors Adventure	Out on the East Coast main road at Bachelors Adventure	Bachelors Adventure villagers providing meals for villagers	Garbage packed into black bags waiting to be picked up	This young fella taking his sister home at Bachelors Adventure