Guyana Floods Kill One, Force Hundreds From Homes
Date: 19-Jan-05
Country: GUYANA
The floods swamped streets of the capital, and schools and many offices and stores were closed, witnesses said. In some rural communities, flood waters reached waist height.
The body of a 38-year-old man who drowned was recovered on
Tuesday east of Georgetown, residents said.
President Bharrat Jagdeo's government declared disaster zones in the Demerara/Mahaica district where the capital is located and in other districts to the east and west on the Atlantic coast, the government information agency said.
Jagdeo has appointed government teams to coordinate relief efforts for people displaced by the floods.
"If we continue at this rate we will end the month at six times the normal average rainfall for January," he told reporters. "Since 1888, our country has not seen this kind of rain," he added.
There was no immediate information on whether the floods had damaged crops in the sugar-exporting Caribbean state.
Shelters were set up in Georgetown and outlying districts to house the people forced to leave their homes, and government teams were distributing food, the government agency said.
The United States Embassy in Georgetown was among offices closed because of the floods.
