Staff Reporter
BUSINESS came to a virtual standstill the past 24 hours in towns and villages along the Omuthiya, Oshakati and Okatana main road over a distance of more than 120 kilometres on both sides of the main highway unlocking the Northern regions from Oshivelo.
Mini shopping malls that mushroomed from an economic explosion since Independence, along with most of the newly-built roads at the end of the war that lifted the restrictions on the movement of people in the erstwhile war zone, are flooded and goods damaged.
Towns that exploded with Independence are Omuthiya, Eenhana and Helao Nafidi, and villages like Onathinge, Okatope and many more became business hubs especially in the lower-lying areas next to the main road to Ondangwa and Oshakati, westwards and eastwards from Omafu on the Angolan frontier with petrol stations all along the way from Rundu to Ruacana.
The video of Omuthiya town shows how newly constructed malls are flooded and open markets next to the roads closed, with devastating consequences for the local economies.
While some farmers may welcome the good rains, an equal number of small-scale subsistence farmers face severe crop losses all over the flooded plains.
More rain is still expected countrywide over the next few days and travellers in the Northwest must be aware of flash-floods while a flood warning remains in place for the Zambezi region as waters of this mighty African river is still rising.
