WINDHOEK – With ongoing widespread rains in the SADC region the level of the Zambezi river is heading for the 5.50m mark before the beginning of April, which would mean more conditions of flooding in Namibia.
Between Monday and Tuesday, the river level stood around 5.05m and 5.1m compared to last year’s 5.71m around the same time. According to the Namibia Hydrological Services (NHS) daily bulletin released on Monday, the perennial rivers continue to rise significantly countrywide.
“The Zambezi river is maintaining its rapid rise and the river levels in Katima Mulilo have reached the critical range. The overflow in the Zambezi floodplains has started and easy access is inhibited. The Chobe river’s spillage is pushing westwards into Liambezi lake,” the NHS bulletin states.
Taking into account the rapid rising water levels, Patrick Kompeli, the agricultural research technician in the Ministry of Agriculture, Water and Forestry yesterday said the Kalimbeza rice project is also poised for possible flooding within the next week or two, which would cause destruction to property and lead to a possible poor rice harvest.
“There is a possibility of the project being flooded if the river levels keep rising with the next two weeks. Fortunately, we already harvested the short rice varieties – Irga and Angola – last month. At the moment, there is only Supa in the field, which is the tall variety. Supa can normally survive the flood because of its tallness,” he said. Supa is expected to be harvested around May.
Kompeli anticipated the project would harvest about 50 tonnes of the three rice varieties. “When you mill, you only get 60 percent of what you have harvested and only that rice can be sold, the rest (40 percent) is broken rice,” he noted. Milling is expected to start next week once the new milling machine is installed.
Further, the NHS also reported very good rains in the Cuvelai delta, with Oshikango being heavily affected by rain. In addition, the Hoarusib, Ugab, Omatako and Cuito catchment areas also received good rains.
The NHS cautioned that as a consequence of heavy rains the road between Omafo and Okalongo which is under construction is very bad for driving, the road being slippery and difficult to overtake on.
“Flooding in the Cuvelai oshanas are mainly from a combination of localized rainfall, water coming from the head waters in Angola and soil saturation. The floodwaters have passed the northern border and contingency and preparedness plans need to be put into gear or action,” warns the NHS.
The NHS reported that the level of the Orange river on Namibia’s southern border has also started to rise because of the flooding observed upstream one week ago, while at Brand Karos the level is rising rapidly.
“With the local soils already waterlogged due to good rains over the past weeks, extra flows from upstream of catchments will worsen the flooding situation,” the NHS cautioned.
By Albertina Nakale