Excessive rainfall, other reasons for severe flooding in Georgetown

Last Updated on Saturday, 28 March 2026, 22:44 by Writer

Excessive overnight rainfall, combined with other reasons, caused severe flooding in several areas of Georgetown on Saturday, City Engineer Colvern Venture said.

The Ministry of Agriculture’s Hydrometeorological Service said 3.5 inches of rainfall were recorded at its station in Georgetown between Friday at 8 a.m. and Saturday at 8 a.m.

According to the latest weather forecast, rainfall totals are forecast between 2.3 inches and 3.1 inches over Regions 1 to 4 and 7, and between 0.7 inch and 1.5 inches elsewhere.

Except for the Cowan Street/Cummings Canal koker door that was not opened at that facility due to a shortage of staff on the waterfront, Mr Venture said all the other pumps and pumps serving the city were switched on. “There were some problems with the staffing at that location.

By the time we could have rearranged staff to go to that location, it was challenging to open that door so we’re going to make arrangements to open that door a little later in the day at the next tide,” he said.

Mr Venture also said all the other koker doors serving Georgetown were hoisted at low tide to allow gravity flow of the water. He said there was no problem with the other kokers and pumps.

The tide is currently falling and the next lowest tide in Georgetown is expected at 7:34 p.m.

Providing there is a break in continuous rainfall, he was optimistic that the flooding would ease and the condition in the city would return to normalcy.

He said over the decades due to the reconfiguration of canals, layout of buildings, occupation of some lands, more concrete perimetres of new buildings, poor waste disposal and fewer drainage staff, Georgetown’s capacity shrank from 2.5 inches of rainfall in 24 hours to just about one inch.

“The downpour is very heavy. It’s not one that the city could have taken off within the time span,” he told Demerara Waves Online News. With the rainfall being more than 2.5 inches within 24 hours, he said Georgetown could not take off all of that water.

The City Engineer said “some” culverts and underground drains were clogged with indiscriminately dumping of solid waste as the water was flowing.

He, however, said the drainage section of his department, which has six workers, was suffering from a staff shortage.

Mr Venture said his department asked for an additional 10 persons but the vacancies were not filled.

He said the City Council had previously received assistance from the Guyana Water Inc (GWI) to clear an underground drain in the vicinity of the Bank of Guyana to ease flooding parallel to Courts and neighbouring businesses.

Mr Venture said flooding outside Church’s on Avenue of the Republic and Robb Street, and the Plaisance bus park on Avenue of the Republic and Regent Street was caused by indiscriminate dumping and the connection of drainage lines to the sewage network.

“We did work along with GWI to have those issues looked at so even with that and combined with the presence of solid waste within the waterways, there are certain underground drains that run behind Central Garage. Many times, we find that there is a lot of plastic that is clogged up under the road and we have to clear that,” he said.

He hoped that the results of a recent study of the drainage network would eventually lead to the reconstruction of drains to increase capacity.

He said concrete drainage networks, unlike earthen drains, would be easier to clean because there would be less silt.

The Hydrometeorological Service said the highest rainfall recorded countrywide was 5.7 inches at Strathavon, East Coast Demerara.

Back in Georgetown, Saturday shoppers competed with vehicles down busy Regent Street because most of the pavements were flooded.

Businesses were forced to place pallets and other objects to serve as makeshift bridges to allow consumers to enter and leave.

All types and sizes of garbage floated from the overflowing drains. There were several garbage dumps such as at the corner of Alexander and Regent streets and outside the Bourda cemetery.

Meanwhile, local government minister Priya Manickchand, on one of several visits across Georgetown on Saturday, took pictures of large accumulations of plastic bottles and other types of waste, and captioned the collection: “This simply cannot continue. Let’s have that serious conversation with action and consequences.”

Successive city councils have called on the central government to approve by-laws to increase fines for littering but no green light has been given.

Ms Manickchand also warned drivers to avoid flooded streets, such as Norton Street and Louisa Row, as far as practicable. “Don’t drive through these streets that are flooded unless you absolutely have to and even then, pls do so slowly. Waves are causing water to go into homes and that can be avoided.”

She said she also met with the Regional Executive Officers and Regional Chairmen of flood-affected regions to “emphasise the importance of making sure systems are working and communities’ needs are addressed where that is possible, given the current prevailing conditions after heavy rainfall all night.”