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December was the beginning of an extraordinarily heavy rainy season that severely flooded Guyana’s three main administrative regions that encompass 75 percent of the country’s population. The rains continued through early February, leaving several villages four to five feet underwater. As the situation worsened, poor drainage threatened the collapse of a major dam, and 5,600 Guyanese were evacuated to emergency shelters, many of them in schools. Most transportation and communications were wiped out. USAID estimates that 12 people died of leptospirosis, a bacterial disease that breeds in contaminated water. Another 112 people were treated and released at Georgetown Hospital. In response, USAID provided nearly $1 million in assistance, initially in the form of emergency relief items (e.g., temporary shelter materials, medical supplies, and food). Subsequent assistance followed with water pumps, boats, and marine engines to clear drainage canals. Additional USAID grants to Pan American Health Organization and United Nations Children’s Fund helped with clean-up activities and disease-monitoring efforts. “The USAID flood assistance package was a major factor that helped reverse the state of emergency that existed in Guyana’s most populated regions,” said Adolfo A. Franco, assistant administrator for USAID for Latin America and the Caribbean. The emergency relief items helped several thousand people in the affected areas stay relatively dry and healthy. Meanwhile, boats and marine engines played a critical role in transporting emergency aid to communities isolated by the flooding, while the pumps helped to decrease water levels, especially along the coast. “An estimated 32,000 people in Guyana were stranded without access to assistance during the flood,” Franco said. “Now several months later, we are still helping to restore a sense of normalcy for many Guyanese.” Communities affected by the January-February flooding are
nearly fully recovered, but more recent rains have occurred
and have postured the Government of Guyana to remain in a
state of high alert to the possibility of future flooding.
The government is currently working with dozens of firms to
clean out and repair flood control ditches and canals, and
continues to use the USAID boats, marine engines, and pumps
to ensure that water levels throughout the coastal regions
remain at acceptable levels. |
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