Dondo – Around 250 residences in the municipality of Cambambe, out of the 674 registered, were affected by the flooding of the Kwanza River, as a result of the opening of the Cambambe dam floodgates. The floods also affected 183 cultivated fields.
Due to the floods, people are removing products from fields that have not yet been flooded, as well as providing, on their own initiative, various alternatives to stay in safer areas.
The riverside villages of Mucoso, Carinda, Ngolo, Cambondo, Cassequel, Kixingango, Lola, Maculumbi and Mulende, in the Massangano commune, are those that suffer most from the floods, which are spreading gradually.
The commander of the Civil Protection and Fire Services in Cambambe, Gilson Gaspar Lopes, said that the floodgates are currently being regulated, according to the volume of water absorbed from the Laúca dam.
The gradual opening of the floodgates allows the release of a water quantity at an average flow rate, which makes authorities less concerned, for the lower risks they present.
In the last 24 hours, the dam had a discharge of 1,557 cubic meters per second and an opening of the floodgates of up to 2.5 meters, which according to the official, allows the authorities and the population to control the evolution of the water.
The increase in water volume is dependent on rainfall in the Bié and Malanje regions, hence the authorities' continued in state of alert regarding possible changes.
In the municipality of Cambambe this situation is cyclical. MF/IMA/OHA/DOJ
