Ali Targets 15,000 Acres of Flood-Stricken Farmland in Mahaicony Creek Sweeps
By Marvin Cato | HGP Nightly News|
BRANCH ROAD, MAHAICONY — Confronting a major climate crisis triggered by intense and prolonged seasonal rainfall, President Dr. Irfaan Ali led a high-level technical assessment team through the hard-hit agricultural communities of Mahaicony Creek and Branch Road, East Coast Demerara.
The presidential intervention comes as coastal, savannah, and wetland regions across the country contend with rapidly rising water levels that have inundated residential zones and severely disrupted local farming operations. During his face-to-face engagements with affected cash-crop and livestock farmers, President Ali maintained that while existing state investments in major drainage infrastructure are successfully preventing total catastrophic loss, aggressive emergency operations must be deployed to stabilize the rural agricultural belt.
Replicating the Hope Canal Matrix
Addressing the long-term economic fears of farmers who have seen entire crop cycles wiped out by backwater effects, President Ali pointed to the flagship Hope-like Canal project as the ultimate structural solution to regional vulnerability.
The multi-million dollar drainage project is designed to manage high water volumes by safely routing excess water away from agricultural backlands.
“We will have the same scenario as we are having on the East Coast,” President Ali assured farmers while standing on a waterlogged embankment. “The excessive storage and dumping of water, when we have these unusually high levels, will be accommodated through the Hope canal. This will fundamentally shift how we protect coastal food security during peak rainy seasons.”
NDIA Activates Heavy Machinery Fleet to Save 15,000 Acres
Following the President’s direct command to execute immediate, emergency interventions, Chairman of the National Drainage and Irrigation Authority (NDIA), Lionel Wordsworth, outlined a comprehensive tactical relief strategy.
The NDIA has successfully deployed a fleet of heavy-duty excavators to key zones along the Jagdeo Canal corridor. The mechanical units are working around the clock to raise weak dams, open blocked runoff channels, and reinforce earthen flood embankments to shield approximately 15,000 acres of vital agricultural land.
| Geographic Impact Zone | Current Structural Vulnerability Status | NDIA Tactical Emergency Interventions |
| Mahaicony Creek Backlands | High Park to Forest Savanna areas severely breached | Excavators deployed to raise dams & install culverts |
| Garden Table Outlet | Drainage choked due to rising river levels | Immediate relocation of a high-capacity drainage pump |
| New Providence District | Low-lying residential and crop overlap zones | Rapid deployment and activation of a new mobile pump unit |
| Jagdeo Canal Corridor | Severe risk of structural bank failures | Comprehensive embankment strengthening operations |
A Coordinated Public-Private Extraction Effort
Wordsworth reported that the emergency response has evolved into a collaborative effort, with 18 local farmers actively utilizing their private tractor-driven pumps to extract water from localized pockets. The NDIA is providing these operators with continuous technical advice, fuel support, and machinery parts to maximize round-the-clock pumping output.
The regional protection brief shows that the terrain situated directly between the river lines and the primary flood embankments—specifically spanning from High Park down to Forest Savanna—remains the hardest hit by the deluge. While short-term relief remains focused on high-velocity canal maintenance and pumping operations, President Ali emphasized that the state’s mid-term policy will focus heavily on building out continuous backland infrastructure to permanently separate domestic farming belts from volatile river systems.
