Some Lilongwe city residents yesterday woke up to horrible news after floods washed away some people, destroyed houses and property and also inconvenienced some road users.
The affected townships include Area 18, Mtandile, Area 49, Area 25, Area 47 and Nankhaka.
The capital city received heavy rains from around six in the evening of Thursday up to the early hours of Friday, which prompted Lingadzi and Nankhaka rivers to burst their banks.
The Malawi Defence Force (MDF), Police and Lilongwe City Council officers went to the affected areas for a rescue mission and the helicopter from the MDF managed to evacuate some stranded people.
Lilongwe Police spokesperson, Kingsley Dandaula, said some children from Mtandile, who were on their way to Area 49-based Shire Primary School, were caught up in the floods but the rescue team with the help of the community members managed to rescue them.
Lilongwe City Council spokesperson, Tamara Chafunya, said the council officers were still assessing the extent of the damage and it would be able to come up with the final data of the damaged property in due course.
Chafunya also said the council had already communicated with the Department for Disaster Management Affairs and they were discussing ways on how best to support the affected families.
“We have also deployed other people from the DHO [District Health Office] to provide first aid to those people who may have been injured because of the floods. There may also be the need for us to erect tents for those people whose houses have been destroyed,” Chafunya said.
While some people suggest the poor drainage system in the city may have played a part in the flooding of some areas, others suggest that some affected people are those who illegally built houses along the river banks.
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