Martina Martina Schwikowski, International Federation
The small bridge is under water, it runs to both sides into huge flood plains covering the area up to the horizon leaving only tree tops sticking out and many flooded homes and shops left abandoned. Elizabeth Nekongo is trying to reach the other side of the bridge to go from Ohangwena town to Omungwelume, a little village near Engela Hospital. An ambulance on the road is slowing down to cross the floods on the way to the hospital.
Nekongo is walking barefoot through the waves, shaking her head: “I can’t remember floods like this”, says the 49-year old Namibian. Her house is located on higher ground and is not flooded, but it is surrounded by water, and some of the surviving cattle lost their greasing ground. “I am worried,” she says. “If there is more rain and flooding, what will happen to me and my family?” Others have already moved into camp sites put up by the government in coordination with the Namibian Red Cross Society (NRCS) which looks after 1329 people being accommodated in relocation camps in the North-West of Namibia.
Heavy rains in the region since early February around the main town Oshakati in the North-West of Namibia severely affected villages and towns in the area. But also heavy rains in the south of Angola have filled up the Cuvelai River which runs near the border to Namibia, about 15 kilometres away. Through overflowing the water made its way to the Namibian side, where the landscape is flat. The earth does not absorb water anymore, it is waterlogged and crops are destroyed before the harvest time in the coming weeks.
The Namibian government has appointed a second team from various Ministries which is flying by helicopter from Ondangwa airport and travelling by road to four different affected regions in the North-West assessing the situation together with the Namibian Red Cross in order to respond appropriately to the needs of the population. They will also make their way to the Caprivi region, which is flooded due to overflow from Zambezi.
“In the country about 23.000 people have been displaced, but many more people are affected,” says Dorkas Kapembe-Haiduwa, Secretary General of NRCS. The government declared a national state of emergency this week, but a comprehensive disaster management plan can only be put together in the next few days, when the assessment of the situation in the vast region has been completed. So far the government can’t confirm the exact number of deaths since beginning of the floods, according to NRCS the number is around 20 people.
Support is urgently needed at Engela Hospital, because of an increase of diarrhoea related illnesses. It has a capacity of 230 beds. Some 17 clinics reports to this district hospital and ten of them are cut off by floods. “We refer patients on a daily basis to Oshakati, because our theatre is not functioning, explains Mahanaima Shilongo to the visiting assessment team. She is the Senior Health Programme Administrator in the region. Her list of needs is long: there is a severe shortage of linen, medicine, mosquito nets and tents – the first three cholera cases have been confirmed and more tents have to be made available to separate patients. “The cholera cases are two people from Angola, many people cross the border and come to us for treatment and one man is from a nearby village,” says Shilongo. One of the cholera patients died.
But 32 cases of diarrhoea are already to be treated. “Toilets are a big problem, we need sanitation,”, she says. “And we do not have electricity at our treatment centre.” Francis Cooper, Deputy Director in the Office of the Prime Minister adds: “The crisis is unpredictable and we need to act quickly to avoid an epidemic situation. People must also be educated about risks; they have to stay in the camps for the time being and not go back to their homes at this stage.”
More rain and flood waters are expected to come from Angola within the next few days. If this happens, the bridge might be washed away.