TMA Director General Dr Agnes Kijazi
The heavy downpour caused havoc at Mpunguzi and Matumbulu wards in the Dodoma municipality destroying 70 houses, leaving 300 people without shelter and food, Ward Executive Officer, Dionisi Samo confirmed yesterday.
The area residents attributed the regular flooding in the ward due to poor drainage along the Dodoma- Iringa highway, blaming the contractor building a small bridge that did not allow water to pass freely.
Samo said strong floods went beyond the tunnels on the roadsides, flowing into residential areas at night when the villagers were all asleep, felling mud-walled houses in the area.
“The last night rains had caused more problems as on 1st January this year, where some 48 houses were destroyed, leaving many people homeless,” he said, noting that the problem had been caused by poor drainage system.
The resident responded angrily yesterday morning following the wreckage caused by the rains as they closed the Dodoma-Iringa road for three hours until when police went to the scene.
The ward leader added that the problem was due to the small bridge designed by the contractor who built the road, adding that water always overflow into people’s residences in every rainy season.
He added that despite having reported the matter to the relevant authority, no action had been taken to rescue the villagers from repeated destruction that could have killed dozens of villagers.
The heavy rains caused flooding in Mpunguzi, Matumbulu and Nzuguni wards in Dodoma municipality and Kigwe ward in Bahi District.
Kigwe ward councilor, Paschal Sijila told this paper that 270 houses were destroyed in the area rendering 460 people homeless.
He said the Sunday flooding was the second this rainy season which began late last year, terming the latter as the heaviest destruction so far.
“We request the government to immediately rescue villagers who had no place for shelter, food and other basic needs,” said Silija.
Elsewhere, in Makulu some 18 houses were swept away by floods while in Nzuguni area, the flood waters destroyed the bridge.
The heavy rains came almost at the right time that the Tanzania Meteorological Agency (TMA) had predicted.
Issuing weather forecast for the next three months, TMA Director General Dr Agnes Kijazi said the rains would start in September and continue through to December.
“There will not be an El Nino as feared but there will be extra heavy rains across many parts of the country,” she said and warned that; “due to pollution of water sources, water shortage and poor sewage management are also likely to occur.”
“There will be normal and above average just as in Dodoma and Singida regions where the rains will begin in the early weeks of November,’ she added.
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