Zimbabwe, southern Africa face floods

By Tatenda Dewa | Harare Bureau |

It never rains, but pours, for Zimbabwe and southern Africa, which face severe floods after a season of extreme drought caused by the El Nino phenomenon, according to weather experts.

Zimbabwe, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Tanzania, Angola, Madagascar and Zambia are likely to worst affected by the floods.

The region was during the 2015-2016 season hit by drought which drastically reduced crop yields and caused many livestock deaths, resulting in hunger and increased poverty.

The Southern African Development Community (SADC) Climate Services Centre, the its regional early warning bulletin for 2016-2017 predicted normal to above rains warned that the region could be affected by floods.

The bulletin was released on Wednesday this week.

“For Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) sector, the forecast suggests a likelihood of normal to above normal rains, which has the potential to lead to incidences of flooding.

“In the worst case scenario, flooding may lead to loss of lives, displacement of populations, destruction of properties and infrastructure; and interrupt access to basic social services such as schools, health facilities and markets,” said the centre.

Affected areas may also face outbreaks of water and vector borne diseases, it added.

However, the bulletin indicated that the rains would present a good chance for increased production in some areas.

The bulletin advised farmers to allocate more farmland to medium to late maturing, high performance varieties.

Early maturing and short season crop varieties must be considered for part of the cropland as a measure to guard against poor rains.

The rains in Zimbabwe are likely to commence as early as late September, especially in the southern parts of the country. Nehanda Radio