The misery continued for several East Coast and West Coast Demerara communities waterlogged since Sunday by a succession of seawall breaches caused by extraordinarily high tides.

Worst affected are Beterverwagting, Triumph, Mon Repos North on the East Coast and on the West Coast, Stewartville, Uitvlugt and Leonora.

Four children who were alone in their Stewartville home had to be saved by a neighbour early yesterday morning as water gushed through a 250-ft breach and flattened seven houses close to the seawall.

Ronald Joseph, on seeing the children's house fall apart, rushed to their rescue and managed to save them, only to see his own house flattened.

According to the Government Information Agency (GINA) President Bharrat Jagdeo on a visit to Leonora ordered that a shelter be opened up at St John's Multilateral School, at Anna Catherina. There was another shelter opened at Uitvlugt Community Centre earlier in the day. The centres are being provided with meals through the Civil Defence Commis-sion. Guyana Defence Force Chief of Staff Brigadier Edward Collins said the soldiers to be deployed at these sites would be travelling down from Camp Stephenson, Timehri.

Yesterday there were 23 persons at the Uitvlugt shelter and another 50 were expected. Nine families numbering about 35 persons were at the Uivlugt Community Centre.

Jagdeo told residents both on the West Coast and the East Coast that they could not continue to live on the government reserve near to the seawall.

Meanwhile, Stabroek News caught up with Prime Minster Samuel Hinds as he was arranging the purchase of bunk beds from a store in Leonora for affected West Coast families.

Large sections of a one kilometre stretch of seawall from Leonora to the end of Stewartville, crumbled since Sunday afternoon. Minister of Hydraulics, Anthony Xavier told Stabroek News the next move will be the widening of the facade drain and contractors moving in. Some 10,000 tonnes of boulders were being arranged to fill the breaches. An excavator was clearing the canal behind the wall yesterday morning.

Xavier said the wall was built in 1930, and with no maintenance it did not stand up.

Over on the East Coast, at Beterverwagting, Globe Manufacturing, which makes Marvex Bleach, was inundated as was the IDI Engineering building next door.

At Ocean View International Hotel where the sea got onto the poolside patio General Manager Ashton Phillips told Stabroek News that they would not use the area until Thursday when the tide was likely to return to normal.

At Mon Repos, a damaged sluice which had been repaired was smashed again by the relentless tides.

President Jagdeo told residents on the East Coast that the authorities would be watching to see what happened and if necessary, people would have to be evacuated. He also said that work would be done on the breached sluice door at Mon Repos overnight.

Agriculture Minister Satyadeow Sawh had earlier said machines would be used to widen a drain cut in the road leading to the seawall at Mon Repos to allow for faster drainage of the area. Fresh water would be brought in for residents by the Ministry of Housing and Water.

However Community Development Chairman Balram Shivdas said though these efforts would offer some relief it was really a drain running through the village's Fifth Street that needed digging. He also mentioned the need for stopping garbage being dumped in a drainage basin west of Mon Repos.

Several residents of Fifth Street were forced to relocate to the homes of friends and relatives who had upper flats. Furniture and appliances could be seen stacked up on verandas and in high places. It was all reminiscent of the January floods.

Some persons living south of the public road at Mon Repos were also affected by the excess water rushing in from the sea.

The same went for residents of Beterverwagting north who had to remove furniture and relocate to higher ground.

One man said he would be going to Georgetown for a while and his wife would remain with her sister.

Guyana Water Incorporat-ed (GWI) was distributing fresh water in the Mon Repos area yesterday as residents had expressed concern about their water supply being contaminated.

Meanwhile, GWI also issued a press release advising residents of Stewartville that the pump station at Leonora was non-operational as a result of the breach in the sea defence.

This would affect residents of Stewartville, Leonora and parts of Uitvlugt. If the situation persisted, the release said, these persons would be supplied with water from today. Guyana Telephone and Telegraph's (GT&T) Leonora exchange was surrounded by sandbags in a replay of what happened at Beteverwagting during the January floods. (See other story on page 13.) The Leonora police station was also flooded and police vehicles were parked on the road, their seats drying in the sun.

Vice Chairman, Region Three, Ramenaught Bisram, was out visiting the area yesterday.

He told Stabroek News that the purpose of his visits was to ask residents to take the necessary precautionary action including evacuating the affected areas in the light of a couple more days of spring tides.

The Ministry of Health has also issued an advisory (See sidebar) warning residents to follow certain basic health rules under the circumstances.