Flood alert for Windhoek

IN the wake of the devastation that followed the heavy rains which fell in the capital recently, the Windhoek Municipality has issued a flood alert.

The Municipality has warned residents that it was not ruling out the possibility of floods recurring in the capital. The alert warned residents to take all precautionary measures to ensure that they were not caught off-guard.”However, this warning should not be interpreted as a panic call.It is just a precautionary measure to get the public alerted.It is, therefore, important to avoid the riverbeds and drifts or crossing places whenever heavy rains occur since the (dam) sluices [at Avis] may open again automatically following an intake of water,” the alert said.Meanwhile, work to repair some damaged infrastructure continues in the capital.The cleaning up and repairing of Windhoek’s streets alone will cost the Municipality in the region of N$3,5 million.”Most of our streets are clean and fixed, we are now focusing on cleaning up the rivers,” Chief Engineer for Roads and Storm Water Johan Kriel told The Namibian.”We have completed about 30 to 40 per cent of all the work that still needs to be done,” he added.Windhoek’s water system is also largely restored, with most people’s services up and running.”But we still have some major work to do with the sewerage system,” said Piet du Pisanie, the Strategic Executive of Infrastructure, Water and Technical Services, in the Windhoek City Council.”The problem is that it’s not just simple fixing that we’re looking at.A lot of re-designing and re-planning is needed,” he said.Du Pisanie said another problem faced by city engineers since the floods was the high frequency of pipe bursts that were occurring in Windhoek.”One pipe burst causes a shock wave which weakens the pipeline.This comes to full effect at night when water consumption is low and it causes numerous cases of burst pipes.These we simply fix as they occur on a continuous basis,” said Du Pisanie.The alert warned residents to take all precautionary measures to ensure that they were not caught off-guard. “However, this warning should not be interpreted as a panic call. It is just a precautionary measure to get the public alerted. It is, therefore, important to avoid the riverbeds and drifts or crossing places whenever heavy rains occur since the (dam) sluices [at Avis] may open again automatically following an intake of water,” the alert said. Meanwhile, work to repair some damaged infrastructure continues in the capital. The cleaning up and repairing of Windhoek’s streets alone will cost the Municipality in the region of N$3,5 million. “Most of our streets are clean and fixed, we are now focusing on cleaning up the rivers,” Chief Engineer for Roads and Storm Water Johan Kriel told The Namibian. “We have completed about 30 to 40 per cent of all the work that still needs to be done,” he added. Windhoek’s water system is also largely restored, with most people’s services up and running. “But we still have some major work to do with the sewerage system,” said Piet du Pisanie, the Strategic Executive of Infrastructure, Water and Technical Services, in the Windhoek City Council. “The problem is that it’s not just simple fixing that we’re looking at. A lot of re-designing and re-planning is needed,” he said. Du Pisanie said another problem faced by city engineers since the floods was the high frequency of pipe bursts that were occurring in Windhoek. “One pipe burst causes a shock wave which weakens the pipeline. This comes to full effect at night when water consumption is low and it causes numerous cases of burst pipes. These we simply fix as they occur on a continuous basis,” said Du Pisanie.