Heavy rains cause damage, injuries
Heavy rains accompanied by windstorms in parts of Central and Southern regions have injured people and caused extensive damage to infrastructure such as roads, bridges, houses and electricity poles.
Torrential rains in the affected areas on Sunday left a trail of people injured in Nsanje, Nkhotakota, Zomba and Chikwawa districts, according to Department of Disaster Management Affairs (Dodma) spokesperson Chipiliro Khamula.
The Department of Climate Change Management and Meteorological Services had forecasted a heavy downpour with the potential to cause damage, including floods.
During a visit to Chikanda Township in Zomba City yesterday, one of the worst hit areas in the old capital, desperate residents were seen displaced and helpless after their houses had roofs blown off.
One of the victims, 46-year-old Nessie Kamanga, stood dejected in front of her four roofless houses, three of which she used to let out to students from Chancellor College (Chanco), a constituent college of the University of Malawi (Unima) that stands within the vicinity.
Broken planks and glass in a mix of bent iron sheets littered the neighbourhood where residents were trying to salvage household properties soaked in the rains.
To Kamanga, this disaster it is a matter of life and death: “I have lost my livelihood. My house and all the houses that I let out have been destroyed by the storm. I do not know where to start from.”
Another victim from the same location, Frank Chiwowo, had heavens to thank after surviving a storm during the night when his house’s roof was blown off.
Zomba City Council public relations officer Mercy Chaluma said several buildings, including offices within the city’s central business district, were affected by the rainstorm.
She said the worst hit areas were around Likangala, Chikanda and close to the Chanco campus.
In Nsanje, some areas endured two nights of no electricity due to the collapse of electricity poles between Bangula and Nsanje Boma.
Nsanje and Chikwawa, the twin districts in the Shire Valley, are prone to flooding due to their low lying topography.
Nsanje district commissioner (DC) Reinghard Chavula, in a telephone interview yesterday, said the number of households affected in the areas of chiefs Nyachikadza, Tengani and Mlolo were yet to be compiled.
But Khamula said in the area of T/A Tengani alone, 260 households were affected as roofs were blown off and flooding caused 15 injuries.
He said Nkhotakota district was also affected by torrential rains and the district council was compiling data.
By the end of December 2018, Dodma reported that 2 936 households were affected by disasters resulting from incessant rains.
Government allocated K68.5 billion (about $94.1 million) for disaster response this year as the El Nino phenomenon—a dominant weather occurrence in the southern part of Africa this year—takes toll on a country already vulnerable to climatic challenges.
