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Flooding hits SADC

Dozens have been killed while thousands have been displaced in more than five SADC countries as flooding took toll at the peak of the 2007/2008 rainy season between December 2007 and February this year. It seems the last few months have not rained but poured for SADC as the floods coincided with widespread power outages dealing a heavy blow on both industry and agriculture in the sub-region.

Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe have been seriously affected in some of their regions and provinces while Botswana has also felt the floods though to a lesser extend.
Overflowing rivers in Malawi, Zambia and Zimbabwe have resulted in farmland being engulfed while some livestock and wild life has been swept away in the historical torrents, which in some instances rainfall as high as 459mm has been recorded. The floods, which cut off Zambia from its key trade routes in Malawi and Mozambique has cost SADC billions of dollars in delayed trade, reduced agro production and human life. Zimbabwe grappling with a deep economic slide has not been spared as hope for an economic boom had been pinned on this season’s harvest, which has been dubbed ‘the mother of all seasons’.

Having barely recovered from the 2001 floods caused by Cyclone Eline, Mozambique is also bleeding from the flooding, which has inundated agriculture land and left thousands surviving on aid food and government support.

Namibia and Botswana have also had cases of flooding in some regions. The catastrophe of the floods and the disastrous nature of the effects have been widespread, even more than the effects of Cyclone Eline in 2001 in Mozambique. This has left SADC governments again wanting in disaster preparedness in the face of several other problems chocking the sub-region while lack of collaboration has heightened the problem.