Zorena Jantze
RESIDENTS residing close to a riverbed in the capital’s Agste Laan informal settlement which experienced heavy flooding on Sunday will be evacuated from the area.
Videos of the informal settlement went viral on Sunday with scenes of rising water levels threatening to wash away shacks as well as a minibus that was caught in the heavy current.
When Informanté visited the scene on Monday morning inhabitants of the informal settlement could be seen trying to regain a sense of normal life. Most dwellers were busy drying blankets as others tried to fix electrical cable connections swept away by the water.
LIVES AT RISK: Some of the scenes from the flooded area in Agste Laan in Otjomuise. Photos: Samuel Shinedima 
LIVES AT RISK: Some of the scenes from the flooded area in Agste Laan in Otjomuise. Photos: Samuel Shinedima 
LIVES AT RISK: Some of the scenes from the flooded area in Agste Laan in Otjomuise. Photos: Samuel Shinedima
Chief of Emergency Management at the City of Windhoek Raymond Kapia, who arrived at the scene with a team of officials, urged residents to evacuate the area.
Kapia explained that those inhabiting the riverbed close to the Otjomuise police station are all informal dwellers settled in the area illegally.
“We are here to assess the area and to see if these people can be relocated and where they can be relocated from the danger zone,” Kapia said.
Mother of three Lizette Gaoses stated that the heavy rains started around 15:00. She said she was inside her shack with her three minor children and suddenly saw water entering the front of her home. Fearing for her life as well as that of her children, Gaoses said the family evacuated the shack as the river came down.
Another resident and expectant father, David Kaitjizemine, explained that the flood water also submerged the furniture in his home, damaging most of his property.
