Africa-Press – Angola. Four thousand and 46 people who live on the banks of the Kwanza River, in the commune of Massangano, province of Cuanza-Norte, began to abandon their homes to avoid the risk of flooding resulting from discharges from the reservoirs of the Laúca and Cambambe dams.
These are the towns of Carinda, Ngolo, Cambondo, Cassequel, Kixingango, Lola, Maculumbi, Mulende and Musseque Cariapuco.
The information was provided, this Friday, in Dondo, by the municipal administrator of Cambambe and coordinator of the local civil protection commission, Adão António Malungo.
According to the person responsible, the administration lacks the means to help the population, who were anxiously awaiting the opening of the gates of the Laúca and Cambambe dams.
In total, 674 residences and an equal number of families in these locations could be affected by the floods.
Due to the lack of reception facilities in the area, many people are abandoning their homes on their own and are being temporarily housed in relatives’ or rented houses in Dondo, the seat of the municipality.
Until now, the number of people who have already left areas at risk of flooding is unknown.
The opening of the gates of the two dams was scheduled for Thursday before being rescheduled for Friday.
These discharges take place every year, between October and April, with a view to regulating the volume of water in the dams, maintaining sufficient quantity for their normal functioning.
In 2023, more than eight thousand people saw their homes and farm fields flooded, due to the floods of the Kwanza River, caused by discharges from the reservoirs of the aforementioned dams.
Press found on Friday that the water level had remained stable until then, at a time when peasants who cultivate on the banks of the Kwanza River, downstream of the Cambambe dam, were accelerating the removal of products, which were in the ripening phase, to avoid losses in the event of floods.
A source from the Electricity Production Company (PRODEL) assured that the opening of the gates of the Cambambe dam is dependent on the amount of water to be released by the Laúca dam, whose quota he considered to be normal.
The same source added that Laúca will only be opened if the rains continue to fall heavily, in the provinces of Bié and Malanje, but the consequences in the lower Kwanza, including the market in the city of Dondo, will be felt gradually.
It was also learned that the Cambambe dam, the last in the middle Kwanza, continues to release quantities of turbocharged water, at the limit of its energy production, with a flow rate of around 400 cubic meters per second.
These quantities do not represent a danger at this time, assured the source, who declined to be identified.
In a statement, the National Electricity Transmission Network (RNT-EP) urged the population living on the banks of the Kwanza River to leave the area, due to flooding caused by the discharge of dam reservoirs.
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