More than 36,000 households in 300 communities affected by floods- CDC

As Guyana continues to face heavy rainfall during this year’s May/June rainy season, the Civil Defence Commission (CDC) has reported that 36,083 households in 300 communities have reportedly been affected by severe flooding.

This was related by the CDC’s Senior Response Officer Captain Salim October, during a virtual stakeholder meeting geared at fully activating the National Emergency Operations Centre (NEOC).

Though the entire country has been impacted by flooding, he said that Regions Two, Five, Six, Seven and 10 remain the most impacted.

The distribution of affected households across the regions, provided by Captain October is as follows:

1. Region One (Barima- Waini)- 2,825 households
2. Region Two (Pomeroon- Supenaam)- 1,084 households
3. Region Three (Essequibo Islands- West Demerara)- 6,766 households
4. Region Four (Demerara- Mahaica)- 3,235 households
5. Region Five (Mahaica- Berbice)- 920 households
6. Region Six (East Berbice- Corentyne)- 9,233 households
7. Region Seven (Cuyuni- Mazaruni)- 819 households
8. Region Eight (Potaro- Siparuni)- 512 households
9. Region Nine (Upper Takutu- Upper Essequibo)- 6,016 households
10. Region 10 (Upper Demerara- Berbice)- 1,719 households

Importantly, Captain October explained that the severity of impact of the households differ from region to region, with Region 10 suffering “severe displacement” as opposed to other regions.

Additionally, he related that some regions are more populated than others. As such, he explained that more households will be affected in more populated regions.

Since May 18, he related that a total of 20,484 cleaning hampers and 21,145 food hampers have been distributed across the regions as part of emergency relief. This is a total of 44, 629 hampers.

Some 15,367 hampers, including 7,537 food hampers and 7,830 cleaning hampers, were given to residents of Region Six. In Region 10, some 5,485 hampers were distributed, with 3,290 of these as food hampers while 2,195 as cleaning hampers.

Meanwhile, he also related that 216 people are currently housed in nine shelters that have been activated in Region Two, Five, Nine and 10. Some 175 people are in six shelters across Region 10, alone.

“At this stage, we are focused on relief efforts,” Captain October underscored.

Later, he said that the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA) will engage in detailed damage sector assessment that will help to provide an understanding of the extent of the damage and provide estimates of the cost for recovery.

At that meeting, Prime Minister Brigadier (Ret’d) Mark Phillips, who has oversight for disaster management in Guyana, reminded that a supplementary provision of $10 billion was recently passed to bring relief to affected communities.