UN food agency sends help to flooded Guyana

A United Nations relief agency is sending Guyana enough food for 10,000 of the people worst-affected by the recent flooding, but warnings have come of more rains in the next few days, with high tides along the low-lying Atlantic coast of the South American country.

“The water has destroyed not only people's food reserves but also killed many of their livestock. Food prices are on the rise and emergency ready-to-eat rations will be needed to enable communities that remain under water, chest high, to cope until the flood waters recede," said Pedro Medrano, the World Food Programme (WFP) Regional Director for Latin America and the Caribbean.

WFP is providing 112 tons of food to feed 10,000 people for one month at a total cost of $387,000. The food will include highly nutritious biscuits that do not require cooking.

More than 120,000 of the residents of the capital, Georgetown, have been affected and over the next few days more rain and high winds are expected to generate ocean waves up to two feet high.