“Jammed” koker causes severe flooding at River View, Ruimveldt

Last Updated on Tuesday, 18 August 2015, 12:30 by GxMedia

Residents of River View, Ruimveldt woke up Tuesday morning to severe flooding because the koker (drainage sluice) door has been “jammed” and could not close before high tide.

Minister of Public Infrastructure, David Patterson told Demerara Waves Online that he was told that when the sluice attendant attempted to close the door at about 2:30 AM, he could not do so because it “jammed.”

“Water is seeping in and obviously the rate of inflow is higher,” said Patterson.

He said experts from his Ministry would assist the Georgetown Municipal engineers in fixing the problem at low tide which begins at about 9 AM. “We are doing everything to alleviate the situation,” he said.

Patterson said a pump was being used to bring relief to the residents whose community was under about two feet of water.

However, a resident claimed that the pump is defective and that the two koker attendants might have imbibed and slept away.