Namibia's President Pohamba declares floods emergency
Namibia's President Hifikepunye Pohamba has declared a state of emergency following serious flooding in the north of the southern African country.
More than 20 people are reported to have drowned and some 10,000 displaced, many from the town of Oshakati.
The BBC's Frauke Jensen in the capital Windhoek says livestock have been lost, crops destroyed and roads washed away.
There has been heavy rainfall since January, causing water levels to rise in the Zambezi and Okavango rivers.
Two years ago, more than 90 people were killed by floods in Namibia.
Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-12913487
The flood already exceeds the 2009 flood, which was then considered to be the highest in known history. Reports from upstream (Angola) indicate that more water is expected and the Namibian Meteorological Services predicted more rains next week.
Contacts
UNOOSA/UN-SPIDER:
UNOOSA/UN-SPIDER
Email: un-spider [at] unoosa.org
Link: http://www.un-spider.org
Contact Points in Namibia:
UNITED NATIONS DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME (UNDP)
Mr. Ojijo Odhiambo
UNDP Resident Representative
Officer-In-Charge
Phone : +264.61.204.6238
Fax : +264.61.204.6203
Cellular phone : +264.81.4214165
E-mail : ojijo.odhiambo [at] undp.org
Coordinates of affected areas (AOI)
Geographical Coordinates for Charter activation request:
Upper left
Lat 17° 20’ ” S
Long 15° 15‘ ” E
Lower right
Lat 18° 15’ ” S
Long 16° 10’ ” E
International Charter Space and Major Disasters
International Charter:
Activation Request accepted: 01/04/2011
Requested by: UNOOSA on behalf of UNDP
Link: http://www.disasterscharter.org/web/charter/activation_details?p_r_p_1415474252_assetId=ACT-360
Project Manager: Pacific Disaster Center
NASA experimental flood page
http://matsu.opencloudconsortium.org
Satellite data has not been calibrated and validated and thus can not be deemed to be 100% accurate. Actions and decisions should not be based on this data. This data is presented as general overview information at this time.
Space-based resources
| No | Sensor | Time (UTC) | Area | Type | Status | Remarks |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | EO-1 | several | Nothern Namibia | pre-disaster | delivered | SensorWeb |
| 2 | MODIS | daily | Northern Namibia | delivered | SensorWeb Flood Maps | |
| 3 | MODIS | 12/04/2011 | Northern Namibia | post-disaster | delivered | JPEG, GeoTIFF, KML |
| 4 | ALI | 16/04/2011 | Northern Namibia | post-disaster | delivered | JPEG, GeoTIFF |
| 5 | MODIS | 09/05/2011 | Northern Namibia / Angola | post-disaster | delivered | |
| 6 | TRMM | 05/05/2011 | Southern Namibia / South Africa | post-disaster | delivered | Graphic |
Multimedia:
UN Multimedia report on the situation in the flood affected areas: UNifeed
Situation Reports:
Reliefweb country updates www.reliefweb.int/rw/dbc.nsf/doc104
ReliefWeb.int. www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db900sid/VVOS-8FHKB5
GDACS www.gdacs.org/reports.asp
Reuters Africa af.reuters.com/article/topNews/idAFJOE73309B20110404
