Heavy rains raises concerns
By Sabina Ntobi The ongoing heavy rains in various regions in Tanzania have continued to cause more disruptions , affecting people’s personal lives, business and economic activities leaving them with a large gap to fix Dar es salaam, the country’s most populated and business city, is one of the regions that have frequently been affected by heavy rains, where some of its road infrastructures, business centres and residential homes have been destroyed. Speaking to this reporter, various people in Dar es Salaam including businessmen; Hashim Said, Abdallah Hassan and Juma Mkumbwa said they are concerned about the harm, heavy rains have already caused to their activities and its long term effects. Food vendors, Saida Kassim, Sophia Maulid and Juliet Marwa also explained how the current situation is impacting their businesses. Other people interviewed also expressed their concerns mentioning a number of effects the ongoing heavy rains ate likely to cause. According to them, some of the effects include; destroying people’s personal belongings leaving them with a challenging task of rebuilding and replacing their possessions; destroying transportations infrastructures by causing road closure or making routes impassable; causing bridges damages; eroding road surfaces leading to long lasting impacts on mobility; impacting businesses and causing property damage, leading to financial losses. The ongoing heavy rains did not come as a surprise as the Tanzania Meteorological Authority (TMA) had from time to time issued statements alerting people on meteorological updates. [gallery ids="1886,1885,1884"] Few weeks ago, TMA was quoted in the media insisting that the projected moderate El-Nino rains were still around the corner and that would particularly pour down from November to December, this year. Authority’s Acting Director General Dr Ladislaus Chang’a stated that the month of November and December would experience heavy rainfall. Further reports from the media shows the government has already unveiled its National El Niño Contingency Plan and Anticipatory Action for Tanzania Mainland, seeking to mitigate the most direct and immediate impacts of the anticipated rains forecasted between October and December 2023. In August 2023, the TMA forecasted that most parts of the country were set to receive above normal rains during the seasonal rains which were expected to be influenced by El-Nino conditions between October and December 2023. TMA mentioned areas to be affected as those receiving rains twice a year, which includes regions in Northeastern Highlands and few areas of the Eastern part of Lake Victoria basin. The regions are Kagera, Geita, Mwanza, Shinyanga, southern part of Simiyu, northern part of Kigoma, Dar es Salaam, Tanga, Coast (including Mafia Island), northern part of Morogoro regions together with the isles of Unguja and Pemba. According to TMA, Mara, northern Simiyu, Arusha, Manyara and Kilimanjaro regions were expected to receive average to above-average rainfall.
