A number of communities across Linden woke up to floodwaters this morning after heavy rains over the past two days saw drains and creeks overflowing their banks.

In areas like Kara Kara, Rainbow City and Retrieve on the Mackenzie shore, water from the overflowing Kara Kara creek rushed into homes, leaving a number of persons counting damages and losses.

Mayor of Linden, Sharma Solomon, went on Facebook live this morning to bring attention to the situation across the town of Linden. He said repeated efforts by the Council to get Central Government to assist with some of the much needed work to clear the drains and dredge the creeks, were met with silence. He said the people of Linden have now found themselves under floodwaters.

“Councillor Bethune is the Head of the Works Committee, and we said to the Town Clerk to sit down with Councillor Bethune, and we invited stakeholders during town week, and we said to them to get the CDC groups, they should have all met and it never happened. The Town Clerk never made that meeting happen, but he was gleeful to deny you Linden to have a clean up…instead what he did, is that he held it off for the PPP Government to come in (for flag raising)”, he said.

He said last week, there was a rush into the community by some Government officials to prepare the surrounding areas close to the Mackenzie Sports Club Ground for the flag raising ceremony. The Mayor said little work was done to address the threat of flooding and there was no consultation with the Municipality. Now that the event has passed and the heavy rains have returned, he said Lindeners are the ones left facing the problems that could have been avoided with support for the clearing of the creeks and drains.

On the Wismar shore, some areas also faced flood waters, with residents blaming the recent construction of concrete roads that resulted in the blocking of drainage facilities. In some area, residents complained that the drainage system was covered up completely.

By this afternoon, the Bosai Bauxite Company, dispatched several pieces of large equipment to assist the authorities with some drainage works to get water off of the land. Workers from Bosai could have been seen with officials of the community carrying out the works.

Member of Parliament for Region 10, Jermaine Figueria, called on the Government to activate the Civil Defence Commission to immediately move into the community to provide support services and coordinate relief efforts with the Town and Regional Councils.

With more heavy rainfall predicted in the coming days, residents of Linden are bracing themselves for even more possible flooding.

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