Karonga floods worry officials

Authorities in Malawi’s border town of Karonga have expressed worry over the magnitude of the floods that displaced thousands of households at the weekend, saying they have aggravated the relief programme that was there for the last floods.

Speaking in an interview on Tuesday, Karonga District Council financial analyst Chiza Chirambo said the recent floods have affected people who were on the last relief programme after the floods displaced over 4 000 families.

However, he said the last programme has resumed following lowering of water levels.

“The recent floods happened at a time when we were distributing relief items for the last floods. The distribution was affected as the same people were also affected by the floods.

“Like at Chakwela 26 houses have been demolished and of the 26, eight are for those who had been targeted already during the previous relief programme,” said Chirambo

According to the official, officers were yet to come up with the number of houses affected during the recent floods. The floods affected areas under Paramount Chief Kyungu, traditional authority Kilipula and Mwakawoko.

However, he said the council will have a comprehensive assessment by Thursday or Friday depending on the accessibility of the areas affected.

“The recent floods covered a big area and we lost one person, Okole Msopole from Lyamayolo Village, Traditional Authority Mwakawoko, who was washed away by the water and was discovered the next morning a kilometre away. Death was due to suffocation,” said Chirambo.

He said a number of families are still homeless forcing them to live in churches, schools and temporal shelters.

“The situation was very pathetic. Some families were sleeping along the road, but with the water levels lowering some have gone back to their homes,” said Chirambo.