Principal Applicant : Dr Arpita Mandal, Senior Lecturer, Dept of Geography and Geology. The UWI, Mona Campus
Co Applicant : Dr Paulette Bynoe, Senior Lecturer and Interim Deputy Dean of the School of Graduate Studies and Research. University of Guyana.
Award: 6000GBP
The project involves a comparative and interdisciplinary study of the urban flood risk in the two capital cities of Guyana (Georgetown) and Jamaica (Kingston) both of which have been impacted from short duration high intensity rainfall associated with or without tropical storms and hurricanes. Increase in urbanization with limited land space results in excess stormwater runoff in these urban areas which are primarily coastal cities and located on floodplains of major river systems. Jamaica has been affected by flooding, some of the major ones are the recent 2020 rains from tropical storm Zeta (Jamaica), May rains of 2017 and from tropical storms and hurricanes in the last ten years. Kingston’s major infrastructures has shown damage from excess stormwater runoff resulting in collapse of sections of gully/drains, collapse of bridges and damage to major roadways due to landslides and flooding. In Guyana, the capital city of Georgetown is well endowed with water, and has to be drained by a complex system of canals, drains and sluices. The city is below high-tide sea level and has to be protected by a wall to prevent inundation, and continues to be faced by challenges from flooding and consequential nuisances such as mosquitoes and other insects. This flooding is partly caused by the city’s coastal plain location and low elevation, its proximity to the Demerara River; and the presence of underlying, impervious clay soils hampering surface water drainage. The city continues to get affected by flooding from biannual, seasonal rains, with the flooding of 2005 being the most significant one in the last decade.