Oswald Shivute
2 December 2008
AFTER the rainy season started in all earnest last week, people in Oshakati fear a repeat of last summer's disastrous flooding.
After good showers were received on Wednesday night and Thursday morning, people living in the informal settlements of Oneshila, Oshoopala, Uupindi, Skai, Eemwandi and Evululuko are already making plans to evacuate to higher ground when the seasonal efundja flood from Angola arrives.
Alina Iipinge and her neighbour Tjavarekwa Tjiyakura in the Evululuko area, whose yards were under water after last week's rain, blame those who built the road running between Oshakati East and Evululuko.
They say the road is higher than the surrounding properties and the storm water therefore runs into their yards.
Residents have seen little progress in flood preparations by the Oshakati Town Council since the floods earlier this year, and fear a repeat.
"We have lost many of our properties and we cannot afford such a situation to happen again.
I think the Oshakati Town Council is under-estimating the situation, because it isn't doing anything," an Evululuko resident told The Namibian.
Mayor Katrina Shimbulu disagrees, saying the council won't be caught unprepared again.
"At least we have cleaned demarcated higher areas where we can go and resettle people affected by the flood, if the flood is to come again this year or early next year.
We also have tents we can use," she said.
She said financial constraints prevented the council from executing all its plans to prevent flooding.
Construction companies are rebuilding flood-damaged roads and bridges, she said, and they will incorporate drainage systems that will divert floodwater towards dams and oshanas instead of residential areas.
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