12 Mar 2018

Although recent torrential rains in Ngami District did not plunge the region into disaster, Maun Administration Authority (MAA) is pulling all stops to prepare for any eventualities to save lives and property in case the unpredictable whether rendered the region a total disaster.

Maun and the surrounding villages were nearly submerged by water after experiencing heavy rain recently with a record high of 91.9 millimetres. It rendered some roads, homesteads, and businesses in the region inaccessible. The situation has now stabilised and is business as usual.

Although the situation has now normalised, the district leadership is on guard and had convened a command centre that will promptly and effectively respond should the need to save life and property arise.

Speaking during a special disaster meeting recently in Maun, deputy district commissioner, Ms Goitseone Nkwe-Tabane emphasised that when disaster started it affected the mandate of departments across board. She said it was incumbent for departments to assist with resources to save life and property of the victim.

She further reported that so far eight wards in Maun were affected by floods as a result of the recent rains, and that costs of the damage caused by the disaster was P9 000.

Ms Nkwe-Tabane said the response team appreciated what was on the ground, and that the rescue centre had been identified at a local church where two tents were erected.

Meanwhile, an official from the Department of Water Affairs in Maun assured the leadership that there was no flood in the upper Okavango Delta as there were no heavy rains experienced there recently.

Mr Gaetadiwe Lekabe said the heavy rains that lasted the whole night caused flooding in Maun and the surrounding villages, but that the situation was stabilising as it had not rained for the past days.

He nonetheless said there was not much rainfall in the lower Okavango Delta and that the water levels were still low to cause floods. 

In the Thamalakane River, Mr Lekabe said the water level had risen from 1.092 metres to 1.0389 metres. Currently he said no disaster caused by floods was anticipated.

Still on the same issue, head of the Department of Meteorological Services in Maun, Ms Keitumetse Monaka said the system that caused recent heavy rains had weakened. 

But she warned that because the soil in Maun and the periphery was still wet, little to moderate rainfall might cause floods. ENDS