Walvis Bay
Rare thunderstorms and heavy rains made coastal residents jittery yesterday and Monday night, with a pizzeria temporarily closing its doors due to damage caused by rainwater.
Some streets were flooded, making it difficult for learners to walk to school yesterday morning.
According to the Namibia Meteorological Service, Walvis Bay received four millimetres of rain, but no measurement was taken at Swakopmund.
Shack dwellers were also caught by surprise by the rains, which rarely fall at Walvis Bay. Magdelena Swartz, who resides in a shack in Tutaleni, told New Era that she was very worried throughout the night that the rainwater would flood her shack as it is built from poor material.
“The rain was unexpected. It was so cold during the day that I didn’t even imagine it would rain. Only when I noticed the thunder did I realise that we might receive rain,” she said.
“My shack is partially damaged but my partner will repair and cover our roof in the afternoon to make sure that water does not enter again. There is nothing else I can do for now as we cannot afford a decent house,” she told New Era.
Swartz was just one of the many people New Era noticed yesterday that were busy repairing their shacks while others were busy covering their shacks with thick plastic material as a means of protection from any further rain.
Another shack owner told New Era that they were indeed lucky that it did not rain that heavily this time around.
“When it rained two years ago we were heavily flooded and had to move from our home, so we built a completely new shack elsewhere,” he said.