Lusaka City Council considers re-location of Floods Victims

Lusaka City Council through its department of fire brigades working with the Zambia Airforce and Disaster Management and Mitigation Unit has started the process of identifying places that are highly affected with floods for possible relocation of residents.

LCC Public Relations officer Mastone Moonze said the operation is a response to President Hakainde Hichilema’s call for the local authority to work with other government departments in relocating the affected house holds.

Mr. Moonze said the exercise that will take a period of seven days shall include capturing of aerial pictures and videos to be used in planning of the relocation will be conducted.

He observed that the flash floods in Lusaka has seen a number of houses in Kamwala South, Kamulanga, Kanyama,Mass media and Arcades shopping areas submerged in water.

Meanwhile,the local authority through the Engineering Department has also beefed up the human resource to help the Zambia National Service excavate drainages in Kanyama township and improve an Earth drain from Chawama to Makeni into the Chilongolo stream.

He said citizens leaving in areas without proper drainage should take advantage of the 2023 allocation of Constituency Development Fund and apply for the construction of drainages by the local authority.

“The Lusaka City Council Department of fire brigades working with the Zambia Airforce and Disaster Management and Mitigation Unit has started the process of identifying places that are highly affected with floods for possible relocation of residents.The operation is a response to President Hakainde Hichilema’s call for the local authority to work with other government departments in relocating the affected house holds.The exercise that will take a period of seven days shall include capturing of aerial pictures and videos to be used in planning of the relocation will be conducted.Lusaka district is one of the affected places to flash floods that has seen a number of houses in Kamwala South,Kamulanga,Kanyama,Mass media and Arcades shopping areas submerged in water,” Mr. Monze said.

“The local authority through the Engineering Department has also beefed up the human resource to help the Zambia National Service excavate drainages in Kanyama township and improve an Earth drain from Chawama to Makeni into the Chilongolo stream.We also wish to advise members of the community living in townships that have no drainage systems to take advantage of the 2023 allocation of Constituency Development Fund and apply for the construction of drainages by the local authority.Our Engineers have always been on the ground working with our performance contractors in unlocking clogged drainages in the central business District and other townships.As a long term measure , we are also designing our drainage system using the Master plan of 2018 in order to completely resolve the issue of the central business district getting flooded during rain season.LCC continue to call on citizens to engage the Planning department every time they plan to buy plots and build houses,as this will lessen the challenges of people illegally constructing houses in water logged areas,” he stated.

Meanwhile, DMMU working together with the Zambia National Service (ZNS), the Zambia Air Force (ZAF) , the Lusaka City Council (LCC), the Lusaka Water Supply and Sanitation Company (LWSC) and the Fire Brigade have intensified intervention efforts in flood affected areas. As part of the scaling-up of interventions, DMMU has deployed high-volume pumps to increase de-flooding operation capacities.

DMMU through the ZAF, LWSC and ZNS are providing safe and clean water to affected residents of Kamwala South, Chawama and Kanyama. Due to the magnitude of flood waters in these areas, ZNS has continued to create drainages in order to deflood affected households.

To this end, additional earthmoving equipment has been deployed in a bid to intensify the drainage works.

Recently, President Hakainde Hichilema directed the Disaster Management and Mitigation Unit (DMMU) to coordinate the relocation of flood victims of Lusaka’s Kamwala South whose houses have completely been submerged.

Speaking after he toured Lusaka flood areas, President Hichilema said there is need for a quick assessment of the areas to identify affected residents in those areas so that they could be relocated to a safe area.

President Hichilema has tasked DMMU to work with the Zambia Airforce to conduct an aerial assessment of the affected areas in Kamwala in order to pick the exact number of people residing in the affected areas who require relocation.

The head of state called for the whole government approach in the relocation of the flood victims where all relevant government ministries and departments are involved.

He said government will not condone people to settle in such areas once the victims have been moved to safer areas.

And DMMU National Coordinator Dr. Gabriel Pollen had pledged to implement the Presidential directives without delay.

Dr. Pollen said DMMU will coordinate the relocation exercise as well as continue to open up water drains in collaboration with other relevant government sectors.