Three drown, property damaged after heavy rains in Mponela; Over 20 hectares of fields destroyed in Balaka

* A lot of houses have been washed away and these families, as we speak, do not have anywhere to stay

* They also have nothing to eat as all the foodstuff and properties has been washed away

By Sylvester Kumwenda, Sylvester Kumwenda & Mary Makhiringa

The prolonged rains that the country is experiencing has brought about some flooding with devastation as three people in Mponela, Dowa died after being washed away by fast flowing waters on Saturday.

The flash floods have been left 139 people destitute after the prolonged heavy rains washed away their houses, property, crops and other infrastructure.

In Balaka, flooding also caused havoc and discomfort to people from Traditional Authority Phimbi as their fields have been submerged in flood water.

Mponela Police Station public relations officer, MacPatson Msadala has identified the dead three as Mayeso Chapondapo (aged 43, of Nabuzi village in Traditional Authority (T/A) Dzoole); 60-year-old Jickson Sandikonda of Kafansiyanji Village in T/A Mponela and Martin Junior Jemison, 21, of Chikonde Village in T/A Mponela, all in Dowa District.

“Chapondapo left home to drink beer and upon his return, he was washed away by running water of Kasangadzi River as he was in a drunken state,” Msadala said.

“Sandikonda was swept away by running water from Kanyungu River when he was returning home to Chidoola after he had gone to Chipembere Mchere to buy maize flour. His body was found at Chiwolewole area.

“The last incident involved Jemison Junior, who had left his home village at Msampha to play a football match and when returning home, he used a short-cut route via a wooden made bridge and upon reaching the centre of the bridge, he was swept away by running overflooding waters.”

All incidents were reported to Mponela Police Station who visited all the scenes with medical personnel from Mponela Rural Hospital and postmortem results established that death in all incidences was due to suffocation secondary to drowning.

T/A Mponela has since called for immediate help to affected families which he said has brought a nightmare in his area and across the district, describing the floods as something that he never anticipated in the area.

“A lot of houses have been washed away and these families, as we speak, do not have anywhere to stay. They also have nothing to eat as all the foodstuff and properties has been washed away.

“As such we need urgent help like shelter, food and basic domestic materials like pails and blankets for them,” he said.

He, therefore, said there for long term assistance because a lot of crops have been lost, and most of the crops in the fields that have been washed away were already at an advanced stage.

“People had invested a lot on these fields and if they are to replant, they will need help like seed and fertilizer. However, this will still affect the overall harvest and the affected people are at risk of facing hunger in the coming months,” he said.

Across the district, 37 houses have been destroyed with 20 totally washed away and left over 139 people as affected.

In TA Msakambewa alone, over 700 households have been affected as their fields have been washed away and the statistics are however expected to change as evaluations are still ongoing.

Councilor for Msakambewa East Ward, Martin Luka said apart from these, the floods have also damaged some infrastructure including five bridges.

“These include Lingadzi Bridge at Kadiwa, Uzami Bridge at Kalwembe-Mzukwa Road and Uzami Bridge on Mkanga–Kalikwembe Road.

“We anticipate that this would result in communication challenges within the affected communities,” he said.

Dowa District Commissioner, Stallichi Mwambiwa, said teams from the Council are already deployed on the ground determining the extent of the damage and coordinating responses.

Currently, the Department of Disaster Management Affairs (DoDMA) has donated various relief items to some of the affected people which include maize floor, beans, tents, buckets, and blankets.

In Balaka rains have been pouring in the area since Friday last week, and this caused Rivi Rivi River, which passes through most parts of the area, to overflow — leading to the submerging of maize gardens.

More than 300 households have been affected ihree village heads — Phimbi, Naweta and Zidyana and speaking to Malawi News Agency (MANA), chairperson of Phimbi area development committee (ADC), Ephraim Kamtedza said the flooding waters damaged a lot of crops, some which were ready for harvest while others were just two weeks old.

“We mostly rely on irrigation farming, and people plant tomatoes, maize, egg plants and these were already ready for harvesting next week,” Kamtedza said. “We also do rain-fed farming, as it is so simple to do. We are sad that both the rain fed, as well as the irrigated crops have been washed away.”

He further asked authorities to come forward and assist those affected, saying the rains have just started: “If given some seeds, we can still go back and plant again when the water levels lower as we cannot survive without the crops.”

District Commissioner for Balaka, Tamanya Harrawa described the situation as worrisome to a district whose people are affected year-in and year-out.

“Our district has been negatively affected with hunger such that my office was working hard to secure some maize for distribution and before that materialises here we are again faced with another calamity; this is worrisome.

“Once the assessment report is out the soonest possible, we will send it to relevant authorities for possible assistance. Let me also call upon all civil society organizations in the district and outside to come in and assist,” he said.

Meanwhile, the exact number of the affected households and hectares is not yet known.