One person dies in Karonga floods: MP Mwenifumbo fears more damage

One person is confirmed dead while hundreds of households have been left homeless following floods on Tuesday night at Lupembe in the area of Village Headman Mwenelupembe in Karonga District.

Karonga Central Constituency Member of Parliament Frank Mwenefumbo said a  11-year-old boy was swept away by rainy water when he and his friends wanted to cross Bwaye River.

“It is very sad that we have lost a life of a person due to floods. A life of a person is special; so it is painful to lose it like that,” Mwenefumbo said.

He said it was so surprising to have floods in Lupembe this year, saying the area has never been affected by floods for many years.

Mwenefumbo then expressed fear that this year the district may experience more floods and damage since Karonga receives much rains between February and April.

A visit by reporters  and Disaster Response Coordinating Committee discovered that apart from the loss of the boy, 32 houses were completely damaged, 10 cattle and five goats were swept away.

One of the victims Hilda Sichali said she lost all her kitchen utensils, maize floor and clothes.

“It was around 2 am in the morning when we saw water entering our house with strong force, so we woke up and ran away. We are lucky that no one of us here was injured or swept away,” she said.

Karonga District Commissioner Richard Hara said it is unfortunate that many people have lost their property.

Hara advised the people in the district to be alert saying more flash floods are likely to occur in the coming months.

“As you may be aware climate change is real and these are the results of it. We just need to intensify the planting of trees in our areas to avoid such disasters,” he said.

Karonga district is one of the districts in the country that are prone to natural disasters such as floods.