By Isaac Salima:
Eleven people have died due to rain-induced deaths since the onset of the 2024-25 season, the Department of Disaster Management Affairs (Dodma) has announced.
It has further indicated that 10,833 households have been affected by the disasters. Dodma Commissioner Charles Kalemba says of the 11 deaths, eight are due to lightning strikes while three are a result of collapsing walls and roofs.
“The department has also recorded 79 injuries, with the majority caused by lightning and damaged walls and roofs,” Kalemba says in a statement.
Dodma says it has been reaching out to the affected households with food items.
“[The] provision of relief items is on-going and the department, in collaboration with various humanitarian partners, will reach out to all the affected [people] as per the reports from councils,” it says.
Kalemba further advises people to be paying attention to daily weather forecasts and postpone all open space activities if the forecasts indicate that there would be thunderstorms.
Deaths attributed to lightning strikes are the highest in recent past, to be recorded barely two months into the rainfall season. Experts have attributed this to the effects of global warming.
“The past nine years have been the warmest. 2024 has just been confirmed as the warmest [year] as far as weather monitoring is concerned.
“At the onset of the rainfall season, the release of that energy results in severe storms, in terms of destructive winds, which also cause lightning,” Amosi Mtonya, Deputy Director at the Department of Climate Change and Meteorological Services, told The Daily Times.
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