By Antonio Dey | HGP Nightly News|
KWAKWANI, REGION 10 – The low-lying riverain community of Lamp Island in Kwakwani is facing another severe seasonal crisis. Persistent torrents from the May–June rainy season have caused the Berbice River to breach its banks, leaving roads, pathways, and residential properties completely submerged.
Photographic evidence and field dispatches sent directly to the Nightly News room illustrate a community in gridlock, with basic overland transit completely paralyzed and families forced to rapidly adapt to deteriorating health and safety conditions.
Commuting by Boat and Fearing Apex Predators
For the residents of Lamp Island, the floodwaters have completely erased all-weather road access. The daily commute has transitioned from standard walking and driving to an expensive, mandatory reliance on small wooden boats and canoes to navigate what used to be municipal pathways.
“When the flood comes in, the water floods the road here,” Lamp Island resident Devin Wilson explained in an on-site interview. “The water bothers us in our transportation on the road, and normally we have to use boats to move up and down. This situation is not new—we experience this flooding for several months every single year.”
Beyond the logistical friction of waterborne transit, families are grappling with an immediate security threat: the displacement of hazardous wildlife. As the water level rises into the savanna and nearby swamplands, a large presence of venomous snakes and caimans has migrated directly into the flooded residential zones.
“It’s not safe for us around here much because of the creatures,” Wilson warned heavily. “You have to constantly watch the small children who don’t know much about safety.”
Regional Officials Appeal for Emergency CDC Intervention
The rapid deterioration of the Upper Demerara-Berbice lowlands has triggered emergency assessments from regional municipal leaders. Dominique Blair, the Mayor of Linden and an active Councillor on the Regional Democratic Council (RDC), confirmed that the flooding in Lamp Island has worsened significantly over the last 24 hours.
“We have observed that the flooding has started heavily in Lamp Island, and it is getting progressively worse,” Mayor Blair reported. “The immediate plan is to formally engage the Civil Defence Commission (CDC). Regional representatives have already moved through the zone to gather detailed information on the extent of the damages. The data is compiled, and it is now for the CDC to actively intervene.”
Echoing the demand for a state-level response, Member of Parliament Sharma Solomon highlighted that the recurring devastation across Kwakwani, Aroaima, and surrounding logging communities points to a deeper, structural failure in regional planning.
Solomon argued that the state cannot continue to rely on reactive, short-term relief supply drops. “Our fragile roads consistently fail to provide all-weather access, and persistent flooding continues to completely disrupt local livelihoods,” MP Solomon posited. “There is an urgent, non-negotiable need for long-term preventive drainage infrastructure and fast-tracked housing developments on higher ground to permanently enhance community living conditions and boost economic resilience.”
State Response Delayed in Committeerooms
Nightly News made multiple attempts to contact the Civil Defence Commission headquarters in Georgetown for an official statement on emergency shelter routing and food hamper distribution schedules. Repeated telephone calls to the agency’s main lines went unanswered.
Follow-up text dispatches were forwarded to the commission’s verified WhatsApp portal. A brief automated response was received stating that the CDC Director-General was locked in an executive meeting; however, no formal administrative comment or deployment timeline was provided up to press time.
