A lack of proper drainage is continuing to hamper the agriculture-based lifestyle of residents of the riverain areas of the Abary Creek.

The Abary Creek falls within Region Five and along with the Mahaica and Mahaicony Creek areas of Region Five and the Pomeroon River in Region Two were declared disaster areas late last month. Though the water in the Pomeroon River and Mahaica and Mahaicony Creeks has been draining it seems the residents and farmers of the Abary Creek would not be relieved anytime soon without the use of strategic drainage options.

As it is the Abary has overtopped its banks and water is still four feet deep as cows grazing in the fields can only be recognized by their heads sticking out of the water that is surrounding every home in the area. At present without a boat in the riverain areas there is no way one would be able to move around without using a boat. Fazal Habibulla, a cattle rancher in the Abary told Stabroek News recently that it was not possible to go anywhere in the Creek without a boat and engine and up to yesterday the situation had not improved. The only dry spot in the area is a road dam that was overflowing with river water in some parts.

The government according to Commissioner of the Civil Defence Commission, Chabilall Ramsarup has decided that technical personnel would visit the area today to assess the validity of the drainage suggestions put forward by residents and farmers.

The farmers do not want to evacuate their cattle said Ramsarup but added that those who wanted to have already done so.

At Lebion, Abary Creek, Davini Gildhari said since before Christmas they were flooded though the water has now begun to drop a little. She said they were in need of potable water for cooking and drinking. At the moment also school is out because of the difficulty in students getting to the Abary Primary School. The dam leading to the school is under water making it very risky for children to get to school.

She has so far lost 30 of 150 head of cattle that cannot be moved because they are wild. They also cannot milk their cows because of the volume of water on the land.

Her neighbour had lost five cows and seven calves in the deluge in addition to 120 acres of rice. Sunita Persaud said they (the authorities) should consider cutting the dams to get the water out to the sea and Berbice River, "if not we would continue to get flood." Observing that it was back water and Creek water from Mahaicony contributing to their plight, Deokissoon said, "I hope they can do something to get the water out to the river, if not the place would continue to flood...because is two times a year we get flood."

Kokers should be used to regulate the flow of water through the dams, she posited, in addition to the dredging of the Creek mouth. The water is so much that it is filling up the Creek

Though she said that they paid their rates to the Mahaica-Mahaicony-Abary- Agricultural Development Authority there was no drainage and irrigation. Along with the D&I issue she stated that dredging the creek would offer them some relief.

"You have got to try and save your own thing," said Gansham Persaud who was transporting two of his sick cows out of the area. In his recollection only one bag of bran and two small bottles of drugs had been delivered to them, which can only last to deal with a few cows while Persaud is in control of 40 cows.

"I have not done one day of work," since the water rose said Mangal Samsuedar of the Abary Creek. "I can't sell any milk," because the persons who normally sold to him have lost cows and those remaining are difficult to milk because of the water as mentioned earlier.

Having lost cows, the number of which he could not say, Samsuedar did not hesitate to criticise the opening of the East Demerara Water Conservancy's problematic outlets at Maduni and Lama. This, he said, led to the water rising to the levels it has now achieved. "They gave us $100,000 but did not say they would loose water on we and now the men them with large cows are feeling it."

"Before the floods I had 250 ducks and fowls and now only 30 ducks and 25 chickens are left," stated Teerathram Prahalad. Two to three birds are dying every day with the water from the toilet and livestock pens being at the same level.

His suggestion for immediate relief was to dredge the Creek Mouth and place a sluice there to prevent the saltwater from getting into the Abary. Chief Hydraulics Engineer George Howard while discussing dredging the creek pointed to the issue of salt water but noted that this should not be much of a problem as it can be calculated how far up the river the sea had made its way.

Prahalad continued saying that a pump should also be installed at the Creek mouth to assist with pumping water out to the sea once the sluice is put in place.

Farmer Sandil Kissoon has been pumping water out of his property every day for the last couple of weeks at $32,000 per barrel to ease the situation on his farm. Kissoon said they made a decision to diversify from planting rice after realising the futility in continuing to raise their own dams since the authorities were doing nothing to maintain the dams on the right bank of the Abary. They now have a cattle ranch where they rear cows, sheep and goats.

He acknowledged that they could not afford to have another flood like this one affect them and advocated dredging the Creek mouth. He recalled that last September during the extremely high tides seawater had gotten into the creek and could not get out because of the sand bank there. He also said it was evident no water was being released from the Abary Conservancy into the Creek as the water would have been black instead of the pr