Over one hundred families in Lusaka’s Kaunda Square Stage One spent last night in the open because their houses were submerged following torrential rains.
A heavy down pour which started at about 17:00 hours left several houses largely submerged.
A ZNBC News Crew that went to the area around 23: 00 hours, found several families watching their homes as water surged in.
They watched helplessly as their goods were soaked and destroyed in the process.
Some of the houses collapsed, and residents talked to said the situation was aggravated by the poor drainage system.
They wondered why authorities like the Lusaka City Council were failing to move in and correct the situation that has become an annual nightmare.
Justin Malanzi said he lost all his house hold goods, which include electrical appliances and furniture.
Getrude Mumba appealed to the Patriotic Front Government to urgently work on the drainage system in the area.
[ZNBC]
The goodness is that zambian rains donot last the whole year, by may it will be a past story however those people need shelter now, if HH is a clever politician he can take advantage and help those people he will gain a vote in 2016 that is my advice
Too bad.where is the disaster managment team.
Ask Thailand or the Philippians,  am sure they may assist from their experiences.
we all know that lusaka was not earmarked to be a capital city due to the fact that its geographically not good. the town is like it is surrounded by hills making it difficult to construct drainages. i came across a book entitled ” this is lusaakas.” (correct spelling). it highlighted some of these problems which our city fathers are aware of but have never ever acknowledged. my brothers and sisters, are you aware that the main lusaka drainage is under cairo road? i will be back!
This is what happens when all people do is build and build!
The cause of these downpours and odd weather patterns is called climate change. It will happen more often and will even get worse.
pa lusakafye napena utumifolo tamwatuposako amano saana. pa COPPERBELT tamwakonfwepo ati amayanda mumenshi. know building plans.
Luo said will build decent houses am sure she will help that sid. sorry for that bad situation.
Blame Sata for allowing trading on streets. Where do people throw rubbish? Answer = drainage. #4 problem is not location of Lusaka. Problem is poor planning and encouragement of people to trade on streets by Kafupi, Lupiya and Sata.
Engineers to engineer Lusaka are not respected and given the chance to do the right work on drainage in the city. Reasons given by politicians no money. Let them budget for a lasting solution period.
zambian engineers! what a laugh!! they cannot as much as build pipes to take water into peoples homes, they must gain their own respect, we are yet to see what they can do!!
There was a programme in Lusaka “WORK FOR FOOD” people worked digging trenches for drainage in all the compounds in Lusaka but the residents were throwing gabbage in the drainages they got filled up and they blame the government instead of themselves
The problem is that we have no government. so prepare yourselves for more
@bakateka, how old are u, 6? Has this problem just started orit was there even when “we had a government”?
Rain has nothing to do with the government! The Council planners should be blamed for allowing people to build in depressions  and this brings me to question the quality of our Civil Engineers. Around Kamwala, they dug trenches with the water going nowhere and these become death traps during rain season. The people should also carry the blame, we should learn to survey the areas before  putting up structures. Ask around want happen in the area during rain season or wait for the rain to determine, in Zambia we do have seasonal streams in some areas.
Everybody knows that in the 1970s and 1980s the Councils in Zambia used to follow building regulations which have always been there.Recently in Ghana the govt.has taken measures to destroy illegal structures and those that do not meet the required standards .Councils in Zambia have been neglected and sometimes they go up to 6 months without salaries as a result of govt.neglect.This though, is no justification to allow people to endanger themselves and their families or tenants by putting up structures that are death traps.Sata himself helped in build Avondale and he was a good Governor of Lusaka.Zambia has a lot of qualified civil engineers and property surveyors who are in other countries doing jobs which they are over-qualified for, because of no jobs in Zambia.We can do better.
NO money in their pockets!
Dr Guy Scott is cutting short his visit to China to come quickly and carry out his annual floods inspection. Don’t worry.
It is the responsibility of the government to empower the local authority, if the local authority is to manage such a small problems….go to Europe and see how the local authority manages snow. we cannot say just because MMD failed so PF will just be watching, that is why MMD was voted out and the PF knew that the rains were coming, didn’t they. or maybe they thought that since it is PF the most “popular” party it will not flood. if we had the government it should have planned about this small problem even before forming government. The problem is that we have NO government.
@S.C SHAGGA….. I do not have to be 50 for me to knew that we do have the government….Good for you thinks that you have one. Bemba’s say ‘ I CHIKWANKA BACHIMWENA KUMAPALANYA’ i rest my case
Storm water drainage system is the solution
#kateka I agree with you. We have no government. It does not rain all year round in Zambia and this simple problem should have been a thing of the past. Doesn’t PF know that garbage blocks drainage?  Where doe Sata and PF know the  garbage from those trading on streets will go?
pf is still on honeymoon and niba chimbwi no plan..you will never get things better with this govt..
Tell those *****s of Kaunda Square to stop throwing rubbish in the drainages. Why is that these calamities happen in the Townships like Kaunda Square, Kalingalinga, Garden, Mtendere and the like and never in Kabulonga, Roma, Woodlands e.t.c.