Niël Terblanché
Heavy rains have caused flooding, water shortages, and sewerage problems in coastal towns, leaving residents struggling to stay dry while municipal services work to manage the disruptions.
In Walvis Bay, a power outage affected the water pumps in the Kuiseb River basin, which supplies most of the town’s water.
NamWater spokesperson Lot Ndamanomhata confirmed that the outage originated in the ErongoRED network, disrupting the ability to refill reservoirs.
“All NamWater’s boreholes are currently without power. The water supply will be limited until electricity is restored,” he said.
He assured residents that once power is restored, all affected boreholes will be restarted immediately to resume normal water distribution.
In the meantime, he urged the public to use water sparingly to prevent further shortages.
Along with water supply challenges, many residents reported sewage backups as pipe systems overflowed.
Walvis Bay’s Kuisebmond, Narraville, and Lagoon neighbourhoods have been struggling with inefficient drainage for years, and the heavy rains have worsened the situation.
Pools of raw sewage formed in several residential areas, increasing health risks.
In Swakopmund, large pools of water forced authorities to temporarily close several streets.
The standing water made some roads impassable, prompting the municipality to step in to ensure safe movement.
Runoff from the streets flowed past State House and into the sea at the Mole, carving deep channels into the beach.
In Henties Bay, municipal teams used specialised sewage trucks to pump water from flooded streets. Residents in low-lying areas voiced concerns about their homes being at risk.
Although the rainfall measured only about 30 millimetres, the lack of stormwater drainage systems in coastal towns caused significant flooding.
Rainfall is rare in the Namib Desert, and urban infrastructure is not designed to handle heavy downpours.
Weather forecasters predict that rains will continue across western Namibia until Thursday, with possible showers extending into Friday.
Despite the disruptions, some residents in Walvis Bay maintained a sense of humour, joking that even with all the rain, none of the potholes in town had been filled beyond 50%.
