By: Antonio Dey | HGP Nightly News:
With just three weeks remaining before Christmas, a 73-year-old pensioner from Graham Street, Plaisance, East Coast Demerara, is devastated after floodwaters destroyed her only source of income.
Miss Myers, who rears chickens and supplies eggs to community residents, said her entire stock was wiped out after water backed up into her yard. The flooding, she explained, occurred because drains in the area were blocked to facilitate ongoing road construction works along the East Coast corridor.
“They blocked the line up there, preventing the water from going out,” she told Nightly News. “So the water came back… it killed out my chickens — I had about 12 — and all the eggs.”
The pensioner, who relies on poultry sales to survive, said she is now left wondering who will compensate her for the losses.
“They said we have to be chief because they’re doing the road… but when I lose, who will give me back anything? Nobody gave me back anything,” she lamented.
Miss Myers added that while the water has slowly begun to recede, the damage has already been done.
She also expressed frustration over what she described as poor drainage maintenance in the community.
“You clean in front and leave the back… the water can’t come out. We’re passing through this all the time — this is stupidness,” she said.
With her livelihood now crippled, the elderly woman says it will be a difficult Christmas season.
Nightly News attempted to contact the Overseer of the Industry–Plaisance NDC for a comment, but all calls went unanswered up to news time.
