U.S.-funded flood resilience project brings advanced modeling & training to Guyana

United States Ambassador to Guyana Nicole Theriot has met with a research team from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette (ULL), alongside Mr. Shyam Nokta, Vice President of AmchamGuyana, during their visit to Guyana in support of a major U.S.-funded project focused on flood resilience.

The University of Louisiana at Lafayette has received from the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) more than $697,000 as part of an international initiative to examine flood resilience and climate adaptation for coastal communities in the Caribbean.

Led by Dr. Emad Habib, professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and director of the University’s Louisiana Watershed Flood Center and its Institute for Coastal and Water Research, this U.S.-driven effort is bringing world-class expertise to the region, with a strong focus on Guyana.

The U.S. expert research team will help co-develop advanced flood modeling and data technologies and train Guyanese professionals to operate and maintain these systems, ensuring sustainable impact. In addition, the initiative will strengthen local capacity to model and simulate disaster scenarios, build a critical flood database—including water levels, flood risk maps, and rainfall patterns—to support smarter disaster preparedness, and assess infrastructure in vulnerable, flood-prone areas.

Through innovation, collaboration, and knowledge transfer, the United States continues to lead in equipping communities with the tools and expertise needed to build resilience and safeguard the future. The project will be implemented in collaboration with McGill University in Canada and Imperial College and Centre for Ecology & Hydrology in the United Kingdom.