Katima at risk of flooding, warns Town Clerk

THE Zambezi River level hovered just a centimetre below the seven-metre mark yesterday threatening the town of Katima Mulilo with floods.

Serious flooding at the town last occurred some 40 years ago. The rapid rise of the Zambezi has prompted the Katima Mulilo Municipality’s technical staff and the Town Clerk Agnes Limbo to embark on thorough inspections of the town and its surroundings to prepare for the unknown.”The situation seems to be really serious.We are getting worried and we need to put mechanisms in place.We shouldn’t be caught unawares,” Limbo told The Namibian yesterday.She said the town had not been at risk of flooding since 1958 – the worst known floods in the region.The river is more than two and half metres higher than at the same time last year, surpassing the peak of 6,64 m reached on April 29 2003, then the highest in 10 years.By yesterday at least three lodges in the area were surrounded by floodwater, while floodwater had entered the buildings of the Mukusi Lodge and the home of a bank manager along the Mpacha Road.Most worrying for the Municipality, Limbo said, was the lack of records and maps of the town’s drainage system to enable them to determine the direction of the water flow.The Town Clerk said the streams were filling up fast and the Municipality’s technical team had been ordered to ensure that all channels were unblocked.Many of these channels, she said, had been dry for months, and residents had ignored orders not to use them as dumping sites.The Municipality yesterday also enlisted the help of retired engineers to determine the areas under greatest threat.Limbo said from yesterday’s preliminary inspections, the eastern suburb of Nambeza near the planned location for the waterfront and the new western suburb of Boma appeared to be immediately at risk.Sports fields at the Kizito College built on the banks of the Zambezi River, are already waterlogged.Limbo said the town’s informal settlements did not appear to be under any immediate threat.Today municipal officials intend to meet to discuss the assessments and the assistance that might be needed.Limbo said a key agenda point would be discussing areas for evacuation and relocation.”It is difficult to tell how many people will be affected.We don’t know which way the water is coming.It seems to move faster at night,” Limbo said.The Red Cross’s latest information bulletin says that it is on alert as the level of the Zambezi River continues to rise.According to the humanitarian agency, this year’s floods have already affected more people than last year when aid had to be provided to about 12 000 people mostly in the far north-eastern regions.A Regional Disaster Response Team consisting of two members from the Namibia Red Cross and one from the Baphalali Swaziland Red Cross has been deployed to the Caprivi.The rapid rise of the Zambezi has prompted the Katima Mulilo Municipality’s technical staff and the Town Clerk Agnes Limbo to embark on thorough inspections of the town and its surroundings to prepare for the unknown.”The situation seems to be really serious.We are getting worried and we need to put mechanisms in place.We shouldn’t be caught unawares,” Limbo told The Namibian yesterday.She said the town had not been at risk of flooding since 1958 – the worst known floods in the region.The river is more than two and half metres higher than at the same time last year, surpassing the peak of 6,64 m reached on April 29 2003, then the highest in 10 years.By yesterday at least three lodges in the area were surrounded by floodwater, while floodwater had entered the buildings of the Mukusi Lodge and the home of a bank manager along the Mpacha Road.Most worrying for the Municipality, Limbo said, was the lack of records and maps of the town’s drainage system to enable them to determine the direction of the water flow.The Town Clerk said the streams were filling up fast and the Municipality’s technical team had been ordered to ensure that all channels were unblocked.Many of these channels, she said, had been dry for months, and residents had ignored orders not to use them as dumping sites.The Municipality yesterday also enlisted the help of retired engineers to determine the areas under greatest threat.Limbo said from yesterday’s preliminary inspections, the eastern suburb of Nambeza near the planned location for the waterfront and the new western suburb of Boma appeared to be immediately at risk.Sports fields at the Kizito College built on the banks of the Zambezi River, are already waterlogged.Limbo said the town’s informal settlements did not appear to be under any immediate threat.Today municipal officials intend to meet to discuss the assessments and the assistance that might be needed.Limbo said a key agenda point would be discussing areas for evacuation and relocation.”It is difficult to tell how many people will be affected.We don’t know which way the water is coming.It seems to move faster at night,” Limbo said.The Red Cross’s latest information bulletin says that it is on alert as the level of the Zambezi River continues to rise.According to the humanitarian agency, this year’s floods have already affected more people than last year when aid had to be provided to about 12 000 people mostly in the far north-eastern regions.A Regional Disaster Response Team consisting of two members from the Namibia Red Cross and one from the Baphalali Swaziland Red Cross has been deployed to the Caprivi.