Is New Orleans A Wake Up Call For Guyana?

Greetings folks. Since this is my first posting on this forum I figured I’d begin with some introductory comments that are, truthfully, pre-defensive in nature. You see I am a Baby Boomer rather than a Generation Xer, and inflicted thus with all the inhibitions and anxieties related to this burgeoning information technology. So take these factors into consideration in assessing the format of my presentation, and do not allow criticism to spill over into the content.

I wrote a letter about a week ago and sent it via email for publication in the Letter Columns of our two “independent” print media establishments. The letter asked the question that is the subject matter of this post, and drew attention to comparables in terms of topography, natural and demographic circumstances. My letter, based on daily perusal of these newspapers, apparently could not elude the idiosyncrasies of the censors and gatekeepers of those two media establishments. It has been my observation that editorial and journalistic imagination at these two periodicals is rather narrowly confined, and at times becomes incapacitated thru retrogression to a cognitive developmental period before “objective permanence“. Things that are not of their personal discernment are deemed either, not to exist, or, possess no relevance to the discussion about Guyana. None the less, I must admit that I was elated when I accessed the Kaieteur New this Saturday morning and discovered that they had dedicated their editorial page to the said issue I had raised in my letter. Because in the end, it matters not who is asking these questions or in which forum they are being asked. What is important is that the issue surrounding the viability of the saucer in which our Capital City and proximate population centers are situated, is coming to the fore. And as it begins to infiltrate the fore-ground of our consciousness, it is opportune to ponder whether what occurred in New Orleans is a call to action for us, or whether we have to undergo a similar ordeal before we can be galvanized into action.

It is very important for us to jettison the hype and focus on what really contributed to the dilemma in the Parishes of New Orleans. It was not the gale force winds of Katrina crunching structures into flying cinders, and converting things not connected to realty into Identifiable Flying Objects or IFOs. Nope, that was the case in Alabama and Mississippi not New Orleans. In New Orleans the dilemma was produced by a deluge of water swamping and covering the city, and turning it into grimy lake filled with the spillage from sewers, residual chemicals from oil refineries, and human created garbage and other waste products.
It is said that the city of New Orleans is a bowl surrounded by water kept at bay by a fifteen high levee system. When you close your eyes and say this it is not too difficult to conjure up an image of Georgetown and its environs, and the rapidly eroding concrete sea defense system keeping the waters of the mighty Atlantic at bay. According to reports received so far, there were breaches of the levees, including the main levee where a two block gap is said to have occurred. Close your eyes and visualize incoming tide way above normal breaching the sea wall and pouring down Camp Street, Water Street, Sheriff Street, and across the East Coast Highway. Think about this happening in the midst of heavy rainfall during May or June, or December thru February. Wait a minute. Am I stretching a point here? Am I being unduly alarmist here? The events of early 2005 would clearly suggest that I am not doing either of these things. And if you visit the Flood Website of Bryan McIntosh, I believe the images you will see there would be eerily similar to that of New Orleans today.

In my next post I will deal with some anecdotal history surrounding our present day malady relative to the potential for a devastating flooding of the Capital and certain coastal areas. I am not an engineer, so my opinions, projections and suggestions are not based on technical expertise in the relevant fields of study. I do what we do as Guyanese, i.e. try to offer a common sense and practical explanation for things that might be technical by their very nature, but poignantly understood by virtue of experiential association with their effects and consequences. Until then, bye.

Keith R Williams
Atlanta, Georgia
keiwillia2111@bellsouth.net