The last couple of months have officially been the rainy season. It has remained pretty unexciting until recently. If you look at a map of Namibia you will notice that Owamboland in the north looks like a giant inland river delta. Water appears to fan out all over this flat land from a single point in Angola. Looking further south, there is the great Etosha Pan which essentially is a natural reservoir collecting all this Angolan runoff. For the majority of the year this water is nonexistent on the surface but during the rainy season the ground becomes so saturated that the rain waters collect on the surface. In a normal year this water collects and passes with little incidence. However, this year is different. Rains in Owamboland along with heavy persistent rains in Angola have lead to severe flooding in Northern Namibia, hence the title of this posting, “moved”. I wanted to say evacuated, which is my current situation, but PC does not like that term. I have been moved.
Despite the danger and hardship resulting from the flooding, it can be quite beautiful. The landscape is transformed from a semi-arid desert into a majestic wetland. It is amazing to see and experience this transformation.
I am now in the Southern town of Rehoboth, worlds away from the North. I have been officially triple evacuated from the north. I first abruptly left my village last week after a bridge leading into my village appeared on the national news. The bridge was underwater and nearly impassable. The next morning I received the call that a PC vehicle was on its way to get me out. It happened quickly and it was difficult for me to drop my work and go home to hastily pack my bag. It was especially difficult because there was no immediate threat in my village. Aside from a few swollen ponds and mud puddles, the flooding situation seemed nothing out of the ordinary, and in fact had been worse a month ago. But after making the trip out I quickly realized that the situation was deteriorating outside of the village. After carefully crossing the bridge in the PC Land Cruiser and seeing the road getting washed away, I knew it was time for me to get out of there.
Crossing the first bridge on the main road leading out of Enguwantale. Crossing the bridge meant driving through 3 or 4 feet of water. Most of the year there is no water here. The water here is the result of water flowing out of Angola.
My only access in or out of the village being overtaken by the water. The quality of the road is not such that it can withstand such water and it was starting to erode at this point. I was later told that a teacher trying to get to town a couple days later had driven his truck into a hole near this site. It was last rumored that the road is now non-existent.
Passing through the village of Oomege on my way out to Oshakati. It was difficult to see so much of this small village underwater.
I was taken to the site of another volunteer about 100km away. The flooding situation was not as severe there and it appeared that I was just going to wait it out there for a little while until my bridge became passable again. However, after three days there watching the water creep closer to his house we received the word to move out of there. At this point many of the volunteers in the north had been giving their evacuation notices and we were all accommodated at a hotel in town. I had just been evacuated twice in four days!
After a couple nights in the hotel and some assessment of the situation by the PC, they decided that it was best to get us entirely away from the situation. The town of Oshakati was underwater with a bridge on the highway being threatened and our path on the highway out of Ongwediva already had water flowing over the road. On top of this, the Namibian government was predicting more rain in Angola and a continued surge of water from our neighbor to the north. I awoke the final morning before the trip down south to read the headlines announcing that a state of emergency had been declared and that the death toll was rising and people were missing. The situation was deteriorating quickly. I was unhappy about leaving my work and commitments behind but clearly it was time to go. My third evacuation took me several hundred kilometers from the region that had become home.
Oshakati underwater. I couldn’t believe it when I finally arrived in town and saw how much and how quickly the flood waters had come up. Many of the poorer neighborhoods were severely affected. Many people were sitting alongside the main road with all their belongings waiting for the government to pick them up and take them to temporary shelters.
Many businesses were underwater in Oshakati. Oshakati is generally a busy, and at times a hectic town. Despite the flooding, this was still the case but there was a different sense of urgency in the hustle and bustle. Many people had to be relocated and businesses forced to close their doors.
So now, I am worlds away from the north waiting out the flooding in Rehoboth. Rehoboth is south of Windhoek and is vastly different than Owamboland. Unlike the north, which is dominated by blacks, the south is dominated by Afrikaners, coloureds, and Basters, all light-skinned people. The way of life here is much different as well. In fact, it doesn’t feel too different from the U.S. or even the Wild West. Despite all the inconvenience and long travel due to the flooding I am excited to experience a new part of Namibia. At this time I am uncertain when I will be allowed to move back to the north.
If you want the latest on the flood situation check out:
(There is also bound to be news on there that will make you chuckle.)
1 comments:
Glad to hear that the Peace Corp is taking care of you. How many Peace Corp Volunteers were evacuated / moved.
Stay safe, dry and your head above the water.
Mom
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