The Hydromet Office has grim tidings for Lethem and other flood-hit Region 9 communities saying heavy rains are forecast to continue for another week over southern Guyana.

Acting Chief Hydromet Officer Garvin Cummings and agriculture minister Robert Persuad on Monday provided reporters with an update on the flood situation from an agriculture perspective at the minister’s Vlissengen and Regent Roads office.

“What we’re seeing terms of the forecast, the models are indicating that there’ll be reduced rainfall for Lethem itself, however, we’re seeing indications that there can still be significant rainfall south of Lethem, leading to the extreme south of Guyana and the northern parts of Brazil.

So there’s still a good chance of continued flooding in Lethem for the next seven days or so. However, for Lethem itself we can expect overcast conditions with localised showers that can be intense but of short duration,” Cummings said.

According to the Hydromet officer, the rainfall recorded at Lethem were at a 30-year high for southern Guyana.

Meanwhile, Persaud noted that the relief effort for the region is being spearheaded by Prime Minister Samuel Hinds, the Civil Defence Commission and the Regional Democratic Council while his ministry’s focus is on determining the impact on food production, food security and food availability.

“We’ve already arranged for an aircraft in fact to start airlifting some of that rice (from Moco Moco) to some of the affected community and that started at about 1 o’clock today.”

He added that other “dry goods” and water were also being mobilized while pointing out that there are other agencies involved in the relief efforts.

The agriculture ministry has been directed by the president to save whatever crops could be salvaged and to come up with a plan to look at the resumption of production once the water has receded, Persuad said.

He noted that crops and livestock teams from the ministry are already based in Region 9 and they have sent in additional staff to help with the assessment and provide technical advice. According to the minister, it is too early to tally the devastation caused by the flood.

“Some villages have lost completely all their farms, take for instance … and then some others have different levels like Aishalton and the neighbouring areas around Lethem you have some farming areas being damaged but the field work is out there taking place and we’re not able to know the true extent of loss, say within another 72 hours in terms of farms,” Persaud said.

Livestock in some cases, he said have had to be moved to higher grounds.

The minister noted that while it was up to the Office of the President to decide on whether to declare the region a disaster zone, the authorities are treating it as a “total devastation.” He added that there have been no official overtures to the Brazilian authorities for assistance since the local response capability is being demonstrated.