- buildings on flood plains also exacerbates flooding
- weak buildings fail to withstand flood impacts
The ongoing heavy rains have exposed the poor drainage systems in various areas across the country which has resulted to floodings that have consequently caused a great deal of destruction, including damage to property, buildings and road infrastructure.
Loss of lives have also been reported in areas of Tonota and Mahalapye where people were swept away by the floods while in other areas some were left injured.
The country has towards this new year started experiencing heavy downpours that continues to disrupt normal life and access to services as different villages, institutions and businesses have become flooded.
Some businesses were left counting their losses after the flash floods surged into their area of operation destroying valuables and forcing them to close. Other institutions like schools and boarder posts have also been forced to temporarily close as a result.
The National Disaster Management Office (NDMO) has observed inadequate strong water drainage systems and their lack of maintenance as one of the main factors that led to these floodings. The floodings can also be blamed on the improper waste disposal into various drainage systems and other waterways countrywide.
“There are various factors that can make a place vulnerable to flooding and one of the main is that there is inadequate strong water draining systems and also lack of maintenance of these systems.,” NDMO acting director, Dr Nkosiyabo Moyo said during an interview with one of the local radio stations.
He added that the closeness of the water table and establishment of buildings on flood plains also counts as a vulnerable factor for flooding. “We have been experiencing issues were people construct on flood plains whether its government, private individuals or residential structures. One way or the other, no matter how long it may take but sooner or later the water will find you and you will definitely be affected by floods,” he stressed.
Moyo said they have also observed that weak infrastructures especially that has to do with residential areas are the ones that are also affected by flooding.
“You will get an individual building a house using soil bricks and not mixed with cow dung. In the olden days we used to have our grandparents reinforcing these structures and they used to be resilient, durable and were able to withstand the impact of floods. But nowadays we have seen that Batswana do not properly construct their houses and this is a very big concern to us.”
Moyo said although areas such as Okavango Maun, Chobe and Gweta are prone to floods, they have observed that others in the northern parts of the country such as Francistown, Mahalapye, Palapye, Serowe, Boteti and lately Selibe-Phikwe have not been spared from the disaster.
As part of its mandate to coordinate management of disasters in the country, the NDMO continues to assist members of the communities who have been affected by these floodings providing food rations and shelter to them. In other areas people have been evacuated to safer grounds and provided with food items for survival. NDMO does this through different structures that is at national and district level coordinated by the office of the district commission.
