The Guyana flood, February 6th 2005, reported by Bryan Mackintosh

Hello and welcome to the Guyana Flood Website. The Guyana Flood website is a Digital Memory Bank that uses the electronic media to collect, preserve, and present the stories, images, and responses of the devastating flood of 2005 in Guyana. This website was created by Bryan Mackintosh and its purpose was and still is to highlight the plight of the people of Guyana during one of the most frightening period in our short history as a nation.

It has been said that because of the work of this website, that millions of dollars in Aid came into Guyana to assist the victims of this terrible man made disaster of January and February 2005. I wish that I could report that most of that money reached the people but I would be lying if I said so.

Journey with myself and companions, Shiek Yassen and Camille Gonsalves, as we travel through the flood ravished villages of the East Coast of Demerara to see the amazing and frightening sights of a country under water and a people forced to find unusual means of survival and to depend on each other for their very existence. This was a period when the colour of your skin did not matter since the floodwaters did not discriminate, everyone, rich or poor were equally affected, no one was spared from the suffering that this flood brought.

Feel the pain of those who lost almost everything that they worked so hard to acquire over their lifetimes and are now left to to ponder their future, Bryan Mackintosh

Aid for Great Flood was almost $204M - Finance Minister Dr Ashni Singh. Thursday, March 15th 2007

Guyana received almost G$204 million in aid after the Great Flood of 2005.

In a response to a query from PNCR-1G MP Volda Lawrence in the National Assembly about flood-related donations to the government, Finance Minister Dr Ashni Singh said US$1,006,271 ($203, 714, 533), was the total receipt of donations made by countries and individuals. Two years ago, the East Coast Demerara, Georgetown and other parts of coastal Guyana were devastated by unprecedented flooding in what was considered a national disaster.

The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) was the largest single donor, giving US$200,000. Atlantic Tele-Network, which gave US$150,000, and Guyanese overseas, who gave US$144,739, also made significant contributions. The other donors are the US Government (US$50,000), CIDA (US$37,240), France (US$62,500), the People's Republic of China (US$100,000), Alumina Bauxite Co Ltd (US$100,000), OAS (US$15,000), GBTI (US$15,000), South American Mining (US$10,000), Kriskor (US$3,000), South Korea (US$30,000), Deodat Singh (US$8,142), the Republic of Cyprus (US$30,000) and others (US$50,000).

http://www.stabroeknews.com/index.pl/article?id=56516093

Bryan Mackintosh's note: If your country or organisation assisted Guyana during the flood of 2005 and was not mentioned in the article above, then please email us the info and we will make the adjustment.

The heavy rainfall on Sunday January 16th resulted in Georgetown being totally flooded, areas on the East Bank such as Peters Hall, Republic Park were also flooded. South Ruimveldt, Queenstown, Kingston, Albouystown and other parts of the city had almost 18 inches of water to deal with. With most of the main kokers in the city being blocked and inoperable, the water took a few days to subside. The kokers at Sussex Street and Princess Streets had to be cleared of debris before they could offer any relief to citizens. The koker at Sussex Street was not being used for more than 14 years, it was totally blocked up and workers had to use massive excavators to get the Sussex Street koker back in operation. This flooding is just a reflection of the neglect of the country's infrastructure over the last 40 years, hopefully the authorities will ensure that these vital mechanisms and waterways are fully functional in the future.

The heavy rainfall started on Friday Jan 14th, on Sunday the water stared rising on the East Coast. Sunday we had just about an inch of water in the kitchen alone. Michelle and I woke to ankle deep water in our bottom flat and by 11am, the water was some 15 inches deep and at 3pm it was some 22inches deep. As I write this note, the time is 10.27pm Jan 17th and the water is still at 22 inches. I just came back from Georgetown and most roads are totally flooded, I hate to think of the agony of people living in places like Albouystown and other congested areas, my heart goes out to them.
As you can see the wheels of Betsy is almost underwater, we had to take the other car to the main road to avoid this happening to it also, poor Betsy's engine is not starting so we could not move her.
We have moved everything upstairs thanks to Mr. Stanley Ming and his team from Mings Products who came over at about 10am. Michelle and I wish to thank Mr. Stanley Ming for his timely help in moving our furniture to higher ground.

There are photos below of the locally built Helicopter that had passed overhead by our house in Turkeyen at about 2.30 pm, when I went out about 30 minutes later, I saw that it had crashed on the seawalls very close to the pump area, about a mile from where we live. Monday 17th January 2005. I spoke to the pilot, Major Mike Charles who said that the fuel gauge malfunctioned giving them the wrong estimation of the amount of fuel that was left in the tank. Because of quick thinking by Major Charles, he was able to safely put the copter down in the Atlantic Ocean very close to the seawall, he and his co-pilot then climbed onto the tail section and was picked up by a fisherman who was close by. They both walked away without even a scratch or getting wet, amazing.

We have photos below below of the pump station at Lilliendaal ECD that is attempting to move the trillions of gallons of water off the lower East Coast area, surely they don't expect this to really work. Monday 17th January 2005.