Downpour wreaks havoc in Mwanza

Mwanza. Nyerere Road here was temporarily rendered unusable following destruction caused by a 45-minute long rain.

Residents of Mabatini Ward in the city were the most affected. The Mabatini Bridge was even submerged in water.

As such, no vehicle heading to Buzuruga Ward could cross the section, as traffic came to a standstill.

A local leader at the area, Mr Ntobi Ntobi, said the bridge was too narrow to allow a bigger volume of water current to pass and that this happened in most rain seasons.

“The bridge connecting Nyerere Road at Mabatini to other sections of the city is narrow. This scenario repeats almost in every rainy season,” he said.

He said added that another challenge was poor drainage system at the area, lamenting that the city fathers were aware of the problem but did nothing.

Yesterday’s floods brought business at the area to a standstill resulting in losses on the side of traders.

Mr Juma Said, who runs a stationery shop at Mabatini said he suffered a Sh7 million loss because flood waters drained into his shop.

“Three photocopy machines, each worth of Sh1.5 million, printers, a desktop computer worth Sh1 million and stationery items including books and plain papers have all been damaged by water,” he said.

He insisted, however, that he would not relocate because the area was strategic for his business and that it was expensive to move to another location.

Ms Zuhura Gati, proprietor of a saloon, said she too had suffered a big loss due to yesterday’s floods.

She told this paper that her hair drier worth over Sh1 million was damaged by water.

“Electrical items don’t mix well with water, whenever they come into contact with water that is the end of their life shelf,” she lamented.

A bar proprietor, Mr Lucas Mbelele, said since they were aware that the area had the tendency of flooding, yesterday’s rain caught them unaware and were unprepared.

“Three sets of sofas are now wet from water, sixteen crates of beer have been washed away by the water. It’s a total loss,” he lamented.