At least 102 people have died this year in the worst flooding since
1972, which has affected 600 000 people across northern Namibia.
The cost of repairs and improving infrastructure will be about $240m,
representing about 10% of the government’s annual budget, said Erastus
Negonga, permanent secretary in the ministry for local government.
Nearly 82 000 people who lost their crops and food supply will require
food aid for months to come, while one town will have to be remapped
entirely to move families to higher ground, he said.
"We have to re-plan the town of Oshakati, which lies in a shallow pan
and which was heavily flooded, relocate informal households to higher
ground and build water drainage systems," Negonga said.
"We have to then fill up shallow areas in the town with sand to raise
the level of the ground. The channels of the two shallow riverbeds at
Oshakati will be deepened considerably so that future waters from heavy
rains can flow off," Negonga added.
Climate change
Oshakati lies 740 kilometres north of the capital Windhoek in a region
that is relatively populated for this vast country. Some 600 000 of
Namibia’s two million population live in north-central Namibia.
This part of northern Namibia is a shallow basin with flat pans known
locally as oshanas. When rain falls here and upriver in neighbouring
Angola, the pans quickly turn into lakes several kilometres, flooding
crop fields, grazing areas and houses.
The government declared a state of emergency in March, after the second major flood hit the region in less than a year.
"The flood in 2008 was already bad and people lost homes, livestock and
harvests," Peter Gebinger, a Dutch environmental volunteer in the
nearby town of Ondangwa, told AFP.
"This year’s flood was much worse and possibly has to do with climate change," he said.
According to Negonga, the enormous repair bill includes a feasibility
study, rezoning and remapping, construction and improvement of sewage
systems, and repairing roads and bridges in nearby areas.
"Revamping Oshakati will take 1.6bn Namibian dollars and the remainder will go to repairs," Negonga said.
News24/Agence France Presse (AFP)
Post published in: Zimbabwe News