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By Sifelani Tsiko
Harare,Zimbabwe (Feb 2 2007)

Torrential rains and floods sweeping across much of southern Africa have killed dozens of people and caused extensive damage to crops and infrastructure.

The devastating floods have left thousands of people homeless even though weather experts say the flooding has not reached the 1999-2000 levels which claimed the lives of hundreds of people and damaged livestock, crops and infrastructure running into billions of dollars.

In Malawi, two people were killed and hundreds more left homeless after flash floods swept through large swathes in the south of this central southern African country in early January.

According to reports from that country, major roads in the districts of Chikwawa and Nsanje were rendered impassable while other parts were completely cut off.

At least 300 houses were washed away in Nsanje while Malawi’s biggest river, the Shire had risen threatening to flood villages on the nearby island of Nyachikadza.

Heavy rains also battered Angola, where media reports say the death had exceeded 75 with more than 50 others missing in the capital Luanda.

About 1 200 families were reported to have been displaced and relief workers warned that if the rains continue a humanitarian crisis could worsen affecting thousands of people squatter settlements around the capital.

An estimated 70 percent of Luanda’s population of more than four million are said to be at risk from the flooding.
“But it’s a whole series of problems that could lead to a wider humanitarian problem…we have the floods, the destruction of homes, lack of access, communication and with these conditions, diseases like cholera can rise,” Jesus Herrera, a medical relief worker was quoted by Irin as saying.

Prior to the latest round of floods, Angola was battling to contain the cholera outbreak that was claiming the lives of many people.

The heavy rains caused more than 20 buildings to collapse, uprooted trees and destroyed a key bridge in Luanda, an emergency offical said.

“When the rains fell many people were at work and only children were at home so many people lost all their belongings,” said the official.

Angola is still reeling from the devastating effects of a 27-year civil war that led to the destruction of infrastructure and left millions of people homeless.

The country is developing its national disaster management systems. Experts say it still lacks the capacity to respond timeously to disasters.

In Mozambique, torrential rains destroyed more than 1 000 homes leaving more than 6 000 people homeless in the Zambezia Province.

According to the National Disasters Management Institute, 13 classrooms were swept away by the rain while some 150 houses were at risk of collapse.

“The flooding was not 100 percent a surprise for the people. Following continual rain last week, we had distributed leaflets, used cars with megaphones and used radio to tell the people to expect flooding and what to do,” Paulo Zucula, the director of INGC was quoted as saying.

“The people knew where the temporary shelters were set up –nobody had to be led by the hand –but it was the intensity of the rains that took us by surprise and the fact that it happened at night was more problematic.”

The official said his country still lacked rescue equipment such as boats and helicopters. He said the entire helicopter fleet was grounded and needed maintenance.

Poor communications and infrastructure are still problematic in Mozambique despite the fact that the country now has disaster agency in place.

During the cyclone Elineinduced floods in the 1999-2000 season, floods claimed the lives of more than 800 people, left thousands homeless, killed livestock and damaged infrastructure in one of the worst flooding in living memory.

In Zambia, the torrential rains affected 21 of the country’s 73 districts damaging crops and leaving thousands of people in need of emergency food aid.

The Disaster Management and Mitigation Unit said the government had not done an audit assess the extent of the flood damage.

“Bridges, roads and a good number of crop fields, which are in their early stages (of growth) are still submerged in most areas. There is fear that if it continues to rain in the way it is raining now in these places, the worst may come before it gets better,” Dominiciano Mulenga was quoted saying.

“As it is, we are not even able to know the number of people affected, but there is no one sleeping in the cold. We did an aerial assessment with the help of the Zambia Air Force and we are currently interpreting the results to deal with food insecurity that is likely to affect these districts during the next consumption period.”

A government official said although flooding was likely to reduce the anticipated maize output of 1,9 million, it was unlikely that food security would be affected.

In Zimbabwe, heavy rains since 31 December have caused isolated incidents of flooding in Zimbabwe. Floodwaters have reportedly destroyed crops in some areas. Further flash floods and violent storms remain a possibility, and the situation warrants close monitoring as it develops.

At least 120 families in Mt Darwin were left stranded after a thunderstorm swept through 12 villages while some villagers were marooned when a flooded river burst its banks in Chivi, a district in the Masvingo province in early January.

Heavy rains also destroyed schools in Zaka and Chiredzi, both in Masvingo province.
No deaths have been reported so far in Zimbabwe. The Civil Protection Unit has set aside $40 million for disaster response and emergency preparedness.

In the 1999-2000 cropping season, cyclone Eline-induced floods destroyed crops, property and infrastructure worth billions of dollars in Zimbabwe.

More than 100 deaths were reported in this southern African country alone.
Heavy rains and localised flooding were reported across Southern Africa. Displacements, damage, and in some cases deaths have been reported in some countries.

The governments of Botswana and Namibia have issued alerts to their populations while in South Africa, Lesotho and Swaziland, emergency units were constantly monitoring the situation.

There were reports of flooding in Madagascar, which was also part of the Sadc region.
Despite the existence of policies and units on disaster management, most southern African countries still lack the capacity to respond to natural disasters.

Some of the major hurdles included financial constraints, lack of capacity to manage disease outbreaks, food shortages, inaccessible roads, disjointed responses, poor planning, lack of shelter and other essentials, lack of clean water and communication equipment to broadcast timely information of developing events such as storms to rural communities.

Lack of rescue equipment, bureaucracy, lack of data and community resistance for some communities to be moved to higher ground and lack of support mechanisms for epidemiological  surveillance and preventive responses still affect the disaster preparedness of most countries in the region.

And, all this point to the fact that either the region has not learnt sufficiently from the mistakes which were made at the peak of the worst flooding disaster in 2000 or that governments are still not prioritising disaster preparedness.

“Politicians have a weakness of responding when things reach a crisis level and affect many people,” said one risk management trainer. “When things are calm, disaster preparedness is not a priority at all. Its relegated to the back seat of everything. But disasters can strike at any time.”