April Fools’ Day, that was it: Friday April 1 2011. I would say it was very early in the morning. I say very early in the morning because it was around 3am. I was still in bed half sleeping and half awake and listening to the BBC World Service.
I have told myself to take it as awkward to get a phone call around that time unless my phone rings more than three times or it is that most peculiar tone which means the fiancée is calling. She’s among the few that possess visas to call anytime.
But the one I got on that April Fools’ Day was nowhere near the peculiar tone. They were the traditional tones I set to my handsets. First, it was the handset with the TNM line. It briefly rang on two occasions. Flashers, I told myself.
Then, before I cured myself from that disturbance, the second happened. It was the handset with the Airtel line. It briefly rang twice as well. I quickly told myself that it should be someone who knew the two of my numbers – a relative, maybe, and my immediate elder brother came to mind. What could it be, I asked myself.
I woke up, fished out the handsets and it was not the brother. It was someone from Karonga whom I have known since I transferred to Mzuzu. We talk often, less on a personal note and more on a business one.
Hypotheses went around my head. It must be fire at a shop, I told myself. No, it should be another devastating earthquake. No, but eeeeh! Hey, you are not sure – I told myself. Call! Yes, call! I called and the guy sounded so devastated that I quickly shed off the half-sleep.
The man was rusty but I clearly heard ‘Fargo’ and ‘floods’. I quickly thought something belonging to Fargo Limited has been washed away. But I fell short of asking myself what that could be as I have never heard of Fargo in Karonga.
Was it an April Fools’ Day? I never thought so because I convinced myself this guy knows nothing about it. Again, it appears we both know what issues we can personally discuss and to which limits.
Floods? Yes! Just a few weeks before this I saw floods around Malungo area in the district and just after the North Rukuru roadblock. I remember a hawker plying his trade near the roadblock challenging that the floods could not bring down his stall because it is strong. He sold me a packet of biscuits while standing in water flowing through his shop.
I called the guy first thing in the morning and we understood each other this time around. A dyke constructed in 1985 to block water from North Rukuru River from flooding a number of areas around the boma had collapsed.
As is the case in many areas, people there called the dyke Fargo because it was constructed by Fargo Limited. It is the collapsing of the dyke that resulted in the flooding. The issues were connected now.
We talked about the state of the affairs there and I quickly thought I should verify the details with the office of the District Commissioner. I called the DC, Gasten Macheka, and he sounded a worried man.
He said Baka area around the boma was in danger of being completely submerged. The dyke that collapsed had shielded this low lying area from fluctuating water levels in North Rukuru River since 1985.
True to his fears, the worst was to come a week later. It was on Thursday, April 7. I had just sank in bed at around 10pm. The same man called again this time sounding more devastated than before.
“It has rained heavily and is still raining here. Floods are everywhere. I don’t know where I should take my property because the water is knee high inside the house now. There is water everywhere outside the house,” said the man.
Before I completely digested his story, another one called. It was from the Karonga main market, one of the only reasonably higher areas around the boma. He told me that water was everywhere and business in the market had completely grounded.
I tried to put together the bits and get a wider picture. I talked to a few people who confirmed that the situation was horrible. But I failed to confirm the situation.
The DC was already locked in a crisis meeting as early as 7am on Friday. Karonga police spokesperson Enock Livasoni was more concerned himself. His colleagues at Kaporo police post were swimming because there was water all over the place.
Livasoni was there. He told me four people had been confirmed dead and one of them died while trying to save his cattle from the floods.
I waited for the DC and when I got him I knew the floods had returned to Karonga. He told me that 60 villages were affected, up to 348 houses had collapsed and 3,287 people were destitute. All these were from Traditional Authorities Kilupula, Mwakaboko and Kyungu.
Most of the affected had camped on the M1 tarmac road to Songwe border post. But this was not the complete picture. The assessment was continuing and there were other areas in the southern part of the district that had been affected by the floods as well.
I had never heard of such degrees of flooding in Karonga with the only closer picture being around 2005. Hence, having had the current picture, I knew an old monster had come to haunt again.
And I remain concerned for the welfare of those affected just as I am concerned about the disaster recovery programme put in place because of the devastating effects of earthquakes that hit mainly the district and Chitipa at the end of 2009.
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