LITERATURE REVIEW

“Nobody in Guyana expected as much rain as the country received in early 2005, nor

did anyone anticipated that the impact of the rains would be so devastating. The days of

torrential rains and floods hit the capital area as of January 14… Entire villages found

themselves cut off. Thousands of families had to flee their homes”, writes Katarina Toll

Velasquez, Humanitarian Affairs Officer, in an article in Crisis/Response Vol 1 issue 3, on the

2005 Guyana floods. Similarly, in a book on flooding occurrence in England, entitled

‘Flooding’, by an author unknown to the researcher, the author writes, “The floods that

occurred across several areas of the country in June and July 2007 were shocking. The

geographical scope of the floods, and the physical and economic damage they caused, were on

a scale not seen for sixty years. The human effect was very distressing……..Those affected

now suffer the worry that such damaging floods could happen again.” These two reports

concur with the researcher in saying that floods are natural occurring phenomena that have no

preference for age, gender, race or status, as these are reports of flooding in two different regions

of the world. However, while it may not be possible to prevent floods from occurring, it is

possible to implement certain strategies to reduce the extent of the damage and the many

complexities they have the potential to create. In order to lead an in dept investigation into the

flooding crisis in the community of Chigwell, the researcher collated information from a range of

sources such as academic journal articles, government reports and media reports. The objective

is to summarize the current state of knowledge about the impacts of flooding on individuals and

communities.

According to the book, “Flooding and Drought”, by Clive Gifford, “A flood occurs

when a body of water rises and over flows onto normally dry land.” But on observation of the
site in question and interviews with senior residents of the community, this definition of flooding

does not match that of which have been occurring in Chigwell over the years, as it was

concluded that there were no surface rivers in the community. This then begs the question of

what else could be causing this large scale flooding in the community. Katarina Toll Velasques

stated in her article that the devastation of Guyana’s capital area in 2005 by flood waters

occurred only after heavy torrential rain fall. Similarly, in the book “Flooding”, the author stated

that about two thirds of the summer 2007 flooding in England was caused by surface water

flooding, often after intense heavy rainfall overwhelmed drainage systems.

This coincides with an article written on the Chigwell flood by Noel Thomson, a Gleaner

writer, in which he reported that water began to rise in the community in September when heavy

rains associated with the storm Nicole lashed the island. Also in support of this, a JIS article

stated, “Since the heavy rains associated with the Tropical storm Nicole, flood waters in

Chigwell have been raising at a rate of approximately six inches per day.” In a third article

written by Horace Hines, an Observer west reporter, Minister of water and housing Dr Horace

Chang revealed that information from the Water Resources Authority had suggested that the

flooding in Chigwell resulted from blocked sink holes that were not cleaned during the dry

season. Therefore, on assessment of these articles, the researcher concludes that the recent

Chigwell flooding was as a result of the overwhelming of drainage systems by heavy rainfall and

also blocked sink holes. This could even be further extended to say that all the major flooding

that have occurred in the community have been caused by these two major factors among other

underlying factors.

The social disruption caused by floods can seriously undermine the quality of life of

individuals and impact on the fabric of affected communities (Gordon, 2004). As well as the
physical and health dangers of flood waters, the psychological impact of the emergency and

aftermath causes longer term effects that may be exacerbated by stresses such as having to move

out of the home, cleaning up…… and getting damage repaired and goods replaced ( RPA, 2005).

According to the book, “Flood hazards and Health”, by Roger Few (2006), it is said that

floods can pose risks to health, and emerging evidence from around the world suggests that their

health impact penetrates far deeper than the immediate physical threat of life from flood waters.

The author contested that floods can carry water contaminated with wastes and toxic chemicals

into living spaces, increase people’s contact with disease vectors, and damage infrastructure,

buildings and possessions.

In light of this, Noel Thompson, a gleaner writer for the western bureau, reported in his

article that the community members of Chigwell fear a disease outbreak and are clamoring for

municipal and health authorities to treat the contaminated water which has submerge their

homes. In the same article, Water Resources Authority, Michael Wilson, urged the community

members to stay out of the water as it could have serious health implications.

“Several houses and farms in Chigwell are now submerged and the community is

mostly surrounded by water as a result of heavy rains brought on by Tropical Storm Nicole a

month ago….Children can't get to school, adults can't get to work. Their belongings are

flooded and funding is not there to do what they normally would do”, reported Horace Hines an

Observer west reporter. These are just some of the few effects that the recent flooding had on the

residents of the community.

Katarina Toll Velasques reported in her article that the Guyana floods led to the death of

several persons and livestock, some of which drowned and others resulted from illnesses arising

from the flood. Also, a large amount of persons were displaced and had to seek refuge in
temporary shelters. She further reported that many villages suffered from persistently high water

levels days and weeks after the initial flooding. It was also noted that the area could only be

accessed by boat. The food chain was disrupted because it was hard to access the flooded

villages and because fresh produce and livestock had been lost. “Serious environmental

concerns aroused because of dysfunctional garbage collection system. Ministry of health

feared an outbreak of leptospirosis”. These were the words of Katrina as she elaborated on the

health effects of the flood on Guyana. This report of Guyana flooding by Katrina coincides

directly with the researcher’s findings on the effects of the recent flooding on the community of

Chigwell. It is clear that the happenings in the community is not indigenous to the area but is a

common effect of floods in general.

The researcher used both primary and secondary sources to gather information for the

investigation which is the same method the writers used and can be seen through the similarities

in the researcher’s findings and those of the authors used.