JAGDEO
GEORGETOWN, Guyana (AP):
GUYANA WAS rushing feed supplies to farmers yesterday after 5,000 heads of cattle died from six weeks of heavy rains and flooding in the South American country, an official said.
Floods now threaten 30,000 heads of cattle on Guyana's east and west coasts, said Chabilall Ramsarup, director of the Civil Defense Commission. Officials also planned to hand out feed for sheep, goats, pigs and poultry.
"That is one way we think we can help as about 15 per cent of the cattle population in the Mahaica-Mahaicony area has already died," Ramsarup said.
AREAS UNDER WATER
Cabinet ministers led emergency teams Wednesday to areas under water to assess their needs. The health ministry also planned to send out at least six medical teams to treat mounting cases of diarrhoea and to warn residents about the dangers of contaminated water.
Since December, rains have flooded thousands of acres near the Mahaica River, located 50 kilometres (30 miles) from Georgetown. More than 5,000 people were living in waist-deep water.
More than 12,000 acres (4,900 hectares) of rice paddies and other cash crops have been lost, while hundreds of sheep and cattle have drowned, the state-run news agency has reported.
Guyanese authorities on Monday began pumping millions of gallons (litres) of water from a swollen reservoir.
The government opened its first emergency shelter at a school in Mahaica, on the country's east coast, on Wednesday. It will open others on the upper east coast where authorities have reported rising waters.
