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Sunday, February 9, 2025
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Floods Not New in Lusaka — Dr. Pollen

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Disaster Management and Mitigation Unit (DMMU) National Coordinator Dr. Gabriel Pollen says the current challenges faced with floods in the capital, Lusaka, date back to when the city was being established.

Dr. Pollen says the DMMU, together with other relevant bodies, has not been idle in finding solutions to the flooding problem in the capital.

“I’ve been called the ‘DMMU dude with a reflector and gumboots’ who never attends to flooding in Lusaka, and sometimes I am accused of being reactive and doing nothing about the annual flooding that plagues Lusaka, but proper context is essential,” Dr. Pollen wrote on his X account.

He further explained that the concurrent flooding experienced in Lusaka annually is a result of the city’s geophysical location, contrary to some social media suggestions.

“So, Lusaka’s flooding challenges go back over a century ago, when the city was just in its fledgling days. In 1918, Lusaka was seen as an unsuitable area for human residence due to its flood-prone geophysical conditions,” he wrote.

Dr. Pollen further disclosed that the Lusaka City Council (LCC) has drafted a US$1 billion master plan that unveils the required measures to mitigate the flooding.

“Today, the Lusaka City Council has come up with a $1 billion Stormwater Management Master Plan. It’s a comprehensive document that correctly identifies the underlying drivers of urban flooding,” he said.

In a bid to mitigate the yearly flooding in the city, Dr. Pollen said the government has spent over US$5 million through the Urban Renewal project to rehabilitate the drainage system, thus reducing flooding in Lusaka.

Nonetheless, Dr. Pollen says more funds are needed to fully address the issue of floods, not only in Lusaka but also in the rest of the country.

“Flooding incidents have reduced significantly in places where structural works have been undertaken. But K100 million ($5 million) is a drop in the $1 billion overall ocean, which implies we can only chip away at the problem incrementally,” he stated.

Several localities in Lusaka have been experiencing continuous flooding following torrential rains received across the country this week.

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