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dam-l Dam floods Namibian town/LS
DAM FLOODS NAMIBIAN TOWN, 80 FAMILIES EVACUATED
WINDHOEK 1 March 2000 Sapa-AFP
The southern Namibian town of Mariental was flooded Wednesday and
several hundred people evacuated after authorities were forced to
release water from a nearby dam, full after heavy rains.
Eighty families were evacuated from the western section of the
town, about 300 kilometres (186 miles) south of the capital
Windhoek, Mariental local authority spokeswoman Catherine Boois
said on state radio.
Heavy rain has fallen in normally dry Namibia since Sunday when
the remnants of Cyclone Eline, which brought devastation to
Mozambique and Zimbabwe, started to pass over the country.
Mariental is located next to the Hardap Dam, Namibia's largest
reservoir, which has filled to capacity, forcing water engineers
to open sluice gates to release water in a controlled way.
Residents were also forced to evacuate the town on February 19
when water was released from the dam after earlier rains.
The flooding of Mariental has also forced the closure of the main
road link between the capital Windhoek and South Africa, which
passes through the town.
The rains have also washed away a section of the country's main
railway line at about 150 kilometres (93 miles) south of Windhoek
and all train services to South Africa and towns in southern
Namibia have been cancelled, the national transport company
TransNamib said.
The cyclone, downgraded to a low pressure system soon after it
entered southern Africa early last wek, has wrought havoc in the
region, already drenched by heavy rains at the beginning of
February.
Flooding in the region has claimed at least 379 lives, and left
about a million people in need of aid in Mozambique alone.
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Lori Pottinger, Director, Southern Africa Program,
and Editor, World Rivers Review
International Rivers Network
1847 Berkeley Way, Berkeley, California 94703, USA
Tel. (510) 848 1155 Fax (510) 848 1008
http://www.irn.org
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