Flooding and drainage: what to ask before you buy

Check flood risk street by street. Ask the questions below, talk to the neighbours and visit after heavy rain if you can. Don't rely on any listing, including ours, to tell you a place stays dry.

Why the coast floods

Much of the coastal plain sits below high tide. Figures vary. One newspaper column says 0.5-1 m below sea level, and puts about 90% of people on this plain. Another report says about 6 ft below at high tide. Three parts of the system matter most:

• The seawall and sea defences hold back the Atlantic. Water can still overtop them on spring tides.
• Kokers are tidal sluices. They're closed at high tide to stop the sea, and opened at low tide so water drains out. So heavy rain at high tide sits on the land until the tide falls, unless pumps are running. Silted channels and poor maintenance make it worse, and sea-level rise shortens the time water has to drain.
• The East Demerara Water Conservancy covers about 200 square miles behind the East Coast. Its embankments overtopped in January 2005. Since then they've been raised and the Hope Canal added.

What has flooded

January 2005. The flood cost about US$465M, 59% of GDP, and affected roughly 290,000 people. Regions 3, 4 and 5 were worst hit, with Georgetown, East Coast Demerara, Mahaica, Buxton and Enterprise named.

Late May 2026. More than 112 mm of rain fell on the coast. Regions 4, 5 and 6 and parts of Georgetown were affected, and reports named Better Hope, Plaisance, Montrose, Success, Beterverwagting and the Liliendaal and Ogle area. The opposition claimed pump stations weren't working. The government side reported 51 pumps deployed, a figure we've seen only in a headline.

Smaller events matter too. In late March 2026, 145 mm fell in 24 hours at Strathavon, and cultivation areas flooded at Cane Grove. In Georgetown, a 2023 report names Camp Road, Water Street and Stabroek Market as trouble spots.

Money is going in. The 2026 drainage budget is G$81.9B, with G$24.7B spent by mid-year and eight pump stations due by year end in Regions 3-6. That doesn't tell you how your street will behave.

Questions to ask

• Has the house, yard or street flooded in the last five years? How deep, and for how long?
• What happened here in May 2026? Ask the neighbours as well as the seller.
• Which koker or pump station serves the street, and is it working?
• Are the drains clear, and who looks after them?
• Is the house raised? What's kept at ground level?
• Can you insure against flood, and at what price? We found no data on flood insurance, so ask an insurer.

Why this site never says "flood-free"

We found no street-level or public flood map, no flood insurance data and no evidence on which estates stay dry. So we can't honestly call any property safe, and we never label a listing "flood-free". Be wary if anyone else does.

Here's how to read what we do show. "Raised with bottom house" is a fact about the building: it's built up off the ground, or it isn't. It doesn't mean the yard or road stays dry. "Flooded in the last five years?" is different. That's the seller's own answer, and we don't check it. Sellers can also choose not to answer, so a missing answer tells you nothing. Our area pages have general drainage notes.

General information, not legal or engineering advice. If a seller makes promises about flooding, ask a Guyanese attorney to put them in the agreement.