On Wednesday, 24 June 2026, a severe windstorm with gusts exceeding 30 kilometres per hour swept across Guyana’s Essequibo Coast, leaving a trail of destruction across more than 100 public and private structures, local authorities confirmed. The extreme weather event left one person injured and forced four residents to temporarily leave their damaged homes in Henrietta village.
Visual evidence shared on President Irfaan Ali’s official Facebook page shows multiple structures with their entire roofs torn away by the strong winds. One local resident described the sudden violence of the storm, recounting that wind combined with heavy rain lifted all the zinc roofing from his home and dragged it across the property, leaving all of his personal belongings destroyed with nothing salvageable.
Retired Colonel Nazrul Hussain, head of Guyana’s Civil Defence Commission (CDC), told local outlet Demerara Waves Online News that the injured person was a teacher working at Riverstown Primary School, who was hurt when a section of the school’s wall collapsed under the wind. No other injuries were reported at the school, and the teacher has been placed under ongoing medical observation to monitor her recovery. “They are conducting all necessary precautionary tests to confirm she is out of danger and on track to recover,” Hussain stated.
The four residents displaced by the storm, all elderly, have been moved to stay with relatives while repair works are carried out on their damaged properties. Regional administration for Pomeroon-Supenaam (Region Two) alongside Guyana’s central government have already launched full rehabilitation efforts, with the displaced residents’ homes prioritized for rapid repairs to allow them to return as soon as possible. Outside of the Essequibo Coast, damage across other parts of Guyana remained minimal, Hussain added.
Among the damaged infrastructure was an under-construction regional stadium, which sustained mild to moderate damage from the gale-force winds. “Overall damage is not widespread across the region, but we have seen a partial structural collapse in Charity and measurable harm to the new stadium currently under development,” Hussain explained. A senior Region Two official briefing President Ali and Junior Public Works Minister Madanlall Ramraj confirmed that the storm caused severe damage to both government and privately owned properties along the entire Essequibo Coast, with 10 roofs destroyed in the village of Lima alone.
In response to the disaster, President Ali announced that the Guyana Defence Force’s Engineering Corps has been deployed to support the CDC’s roof replacement and recovery operations. The storm also knocked out power across the entire Essequibo Coast, but utility crews from Guyana Power and Light quickly restored service after clearing fallen utility poles, downed power lines and wind-torn mangled zinc roofing that had tangled electrical infrastructure.