Malawi in ‘state of emergency’ due to flooding
Six people have reported been killed and property, houses and crops destroyed due to flooding caused by heavy rains, according to Paul Chiunguzeni, Commissioner for Disaster Management Affairs.
“The reports we have are that so far, six people are feared dead, four in Mangochi while two in Zomba. The number might go up,” said Chiunguzeni.
“In most places, houses and crops have been completely destroyed,” he said.
Mangochi District Commissioner Bester Mandele said heavy rains have left “thousands of people homeless due to the floods” and that more houses are collapsing as the rains continues to pour.
The district estimates that some 500 families have been displaced by the rains and in need of immediate help. At least 1 000 hectares of crops have also been washed away.
In Blantyre, some 540 families have lost their homes due to a hailstorm and floods.
There is also an alert that Luo River is southern Malawi is rising and the government officials have been dispatched to evacuate people living along the river.
Chiunguzeni said a meeting is being held in the capital Lilongwe, where the government will review a budget for Disaster Response.
“We had a budget of (Malawi kwacha) MK150 million or about $300 000. But this budget has been exhausted,” he said.
He said his department will be asking for additional funding amounting to MK100 million ($200 000) to help it respond to the crisis.
“This is a national crisis because we have all these cases at the beginning of the rain season. We only hope the situation does not get worse than this,” Chiunguzeni said.
Malawi’s President Peter Mutharika has since appealed to Malawians to pray for those affected and has deployed Vice-President Saulos Chilimato assess the situation.
Mutharika is yet to declare a state of emergency due to flooding.
Malawi’s rain season begins in October and ends in April.
The Department of Climate Change and Meteorological Services has warned of high rainfall amounts which will eventually trigger flash floods in the country for the next two to three weeks
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There no where we can run to its only the father who at heaven
Hey man, people are dying, families displaced and you have time to write rubbish, if you don’t have anything to say just stay away.
Stop the nonessentials,we are a body,you can not function without your arms nor can you without your eyes.
Complete rubbish we are all going the same way. Wonder if God is going to segregate you when you finally meet him. Write sense with positive ideas and endeavour to implement them. Whether u come from east. west, south or north we are all going the same way. So get a tighter grip of your finger when typing and type some sense.
mtila… you are a fool
I feel rather sorry for this Mtila guy who’s showing in the eyes of us all how intellectually downlow he is by diverting the core of the issue at hand with his hatred for Tumbukas which from his stereotype generalisation stands for Northerners. I for one I’m a northerner, born and raised up predominantly in the Southern Malawil district of Blantyre and hear this from me. In my neighbourhood of Nyambadwe there are so many of us you would think its in the north. We make a greater proportion of the Malawian community in the diaspora. Our region has many… Read more »
Infact, in Mzuzu, a majority of housekeepers, home gardeners and nannies are from south and cemtres. They are all over cleaning our toilets. Get this in your thick head ntila
Akanadziwa sakananyoza bambo mulira simunati yambani kulapa machimo Mulungu akuwonetsa kuti siwachibwana ayi.
Hold on. The other day the Muslims were paying for rain. Now we are flooding!
Cry for my beloved country, Malawians are peaple with so much hatred with one another. Why are we taking issues of National interest so personal? Malawi will change if the minds of us living in it changes too and that is what God is waiting for.
Alomwe ambili amatchola tea mma estate..zoona izi. Chomwechonso atumbuka ambili amandanda mu miseu ya kwao kumpoto kuti aone basi yopita ku Blantyre. Akaiona onse amapfuula amvekere basi ura dazi linyake ndizankwera. Kenaka mtsogoleri wao amafunsa kuya nkhu? Onse amayankha ku Bulantaya. Akatelo amabalalika.