Scores of Kwakwani families evacuating their homes

As flood waters continue to rise in the Upper-Berbice district community of Kwawani, scores of families are now evacuating their homes, that are located in the Kwakwani Waterfront and Lamp Island area. Over 30 families evacuated on Sunday alone. The families are either seeking refuge at their relatives residing in other parts of the community that are not flooded, or at the Kwakwani Primary School which was converted into a shelter.

The Kwakwani Neighbourhood Democratic Council (KNDC), in collaboration with the Regional Democratic Council (RDC), last Friday, has made provisions possible to ensure the shelters are livable. Residents initially preferred not to relocate, but with the water level rising more that twelve feet, they had no choice but to abandon their homes, that are now under water.

A team of councillors along with KNDC’s Chairwoman, Elsie Mcpherson, evacuated three families to the shelter to date and assisted several other families to evacuate to their relatives’ residences.
31-Year-old Sunita Fredricks, a six-month-old pregnant mother of seven, evacuated Saturday to the shelter, describes this year’s flood as the worst she has ever experienced since living in the area. “It is rising very fast and is affecting mostly the children. I didn’t sleep well last night, I keep checking the water to see if it will meet the bed,” Fredricks told INFO 10.

Samuel Harris, a businessman at the Waterfront, related to this media house that his losses are enormous. “I don’t even know what to say right now, I built this land to road level, although it’s not customary for this section to be flooded,” the distressed businessman said.
Harris has embarked on shuttling his livestock, groceries and other items to his general store in Central Park.

Regional representatives are pleading with residents to evacuate assiduously since water levels will continue to rise as heavy rainfall is expected in the coming weeks.

According to Guyana’s Hydrometeorological Service, it is predicted that the Upper-Berbice district will have an average of 40 days of rainfall between June and July and 44 days in the mining town of Linden.