Collapsed houses, destroyed movable property and hundreds of lives in the open. This is the consequence of the overflow of the Dande River following the opening of two floodgates at the Mabubas hydroelectric plant, on the outskirts of Caxito. The needs are stark to minimize the loss. The Provincial Government of Bengo came forward with the distribution of plots of land to house the victims who, at this moment, lack everything to restart their lives destroyed by the waters
Start everything over from scratch. This is how Domingas Cristovão will have to face life from now on, following losing everything due to the floods caused by the opening of the dam gates on the Dande River. Domingas is part of a group of 300 residents of neighborhoods in the municipality of Dande who saw everything lose as the waters invaded them and caused extensive material damage.
Today, Domingas’ adobe house is reduced to simple rubble following having collapsed last week, without, however, causing any physical damage to her or her children, who are currently in uncertain whereregardings. “After the house was destroyed, I had to send the kids to Luanda. The first few days they stayed at a sister-in-law’s house.
But now I don’t know if they’re still there or if they’ve already gone to another place, since I don’t have a phone, everything has become even more complicated”, he lamented. Like the vast majority of victims, during the floods and the collapse of the house, Domingas did not have time to remove anything, not even the 40 thousand kwanzas from the business that he kept at home following another day of selling.
“We only had time to grab the children and run away, because the water was over our knees. We were also just lucky that it was daytime. Because if it were at night, they should just come and collect our bodies”, she lamented sadly.
