Coastlanders put on flood alert due to rain, high tide

Last Updated on Saturday, 26 December 2015, 21:01 by GxMedia

Flashback: A flooded section of Bel Air Gardens.

Guyanese living along the densely populated coastline were Saturday warned to brace themselves for flooding due to a combination of heavy rainfall and spring tide.

“We advise that wet conditions with possible flooding in low lying areas that wet conditions with possible flooding in low lying areas when rain is coupled with spring tide event will prevail,” the Ministry of Agriculture said in a weather report.

The spring tide advisory is in effect from July 21 to July 27. Forecasters say the tide will be eight and nine feet, with the highest expected to be 9.25 feet on Monday July 21 at 4:42 AM and 9.19 feet on Thursday July 25 at 6:13 AM.

The Agriculture Ministry said citizens are advised that the Inter-Tropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) is over Guyana and this is likely to remain for the next 24 hours. “As a result the rainy situation that most parts of Guyana have experienced in the last 24 hours is likely to continue in the next 24 hours,” the statement added.

Residents in low lying communities are asked to exercise precautions against possible flooding during these events.

Recent spring tides have damaged kokers and caused severe flooding especially in the Liliendaal, Subryanville and Kitty areas. Those floods had already forced authorities to close the Rupert Craig Highway in that vicinity and confine two-way traffic to the Railway Embankment Road.

The 24-hour outlook reads: Cloudy to overcast conditions with showers and intermittent rain which maybe heavy at times can be expected along Coastal and near Inland areas. Other area can expect partly cloudy conditions with isolated showers. Rainfall is expected to range between 2.0 to 25.0mm.
Given for the past 24 to 48 hours based  on the Radar images, Coastal and near Inland areas have had large amounts of rainfall with values ranging from 6.3mm to 80.0mm, flood prone areas will be already saturated with water and given that  the current conditions do not support a decrease in the precipitation over these areas, there is a strong possibility of these flood prone areas can continue to experience flooding conditions.

Friday’s rainfall reads: The Hydrometeorological Service as at 08:00 hours on July 20, 2013, received reports from a number of its rainfall stations across the country. These reports give a total accumulated rainfall between 08:00 hours July 19, 2013 to 08:00 hours on July 20, 2013. The highest rainfall of 57.1 mm was reported at Onderneeming in Region 2. Some examples of rainfall information received thus far are listed below: