bulletin 24 march 2013 - Namibia Flood Dashboard

HYDROLOGICAL SERVICES NAMIBIA – DAILY FLOOD (AND DROUGHT)
BULLETIN 24 MARCH 2013 – DEVELOPMENT OF NEW FLOODWAVE IN UPPER
ZAMBEZI RIVER (ANGOP REPORTS 347,000 PERSONS AFFECTED BY
DROUGHT IN CUNENE PROVINCE IN ANGOLA)
No or little rains in Namibia and the area north of the border. The drought
conditions are worsening as the rainy season progresses. The development
of a small flood in the upper parts of the Cuvelai River in the Evale area was only
transient and the chance for an efundja from Angola has become virtually zero. The
flows in the Kavango, Kwando and Zambezi rivers are falling, although the Zambezi
River is still above normal maximum floodlevel. The readings of Mr Mwale (ZRA) for
the Upper Zambezi River show that the levels at Chavuma increased by more than
1.10 m in five days and had reached 8.185 m on Friday morning. It should be
considered that in previous high flood years, flow levels at Chavuma have been in
the 9-10 m range and that this new floodwave is moving down in an area that has
seen little rain for about a month now. The main impact for Namibia will be that the
floodlevels in the eastern parts of the Caprivi Region may stabilize and
again rise towards 6 m at the beginning of April, i.e. the flooding situation
will carry on longer. Floodwaters are still pushing further in the Chobe River and
the Bukalo Channel in the direction of Lake Liambezi. The Lower Orange River
remains low.
See below hydrographs of measured water levels for Zambezi (Chavuma, Lukulu,
Senanga, Katima Mulilo) and Kavango (Nkurenkuru, Rundu, Andara) rivers in Zambia
and Namibia and of satellite-estimated flows for Cuvelai (Evale) River in Angola.
8.00
7.00
6.00
2009
2010
2011
2012
normal maximum
high maximum
5.00
4.00
3.00
very high maximum
2.00
2013
1.00
0.00
1-Jan
21-Jan
10-Feb
2-Mar
22-Mar
11-Apr
1-May
21-May
9.00
8.00
7.00
6.00
5.00
4.00
C havuma
Lukulu
Senanga
Katima Mulilo
3.00
2.00
1.00
0.00
1-Jan
21-Jan
10-Feb
2-Mar
22-Mar
11-Apr
1-May
21-May
9.00
8.50
8.00
7.50
2009
2010
2011
2012
normal maximum
high maximum
7.00
6.50
6.00
5.50
very high maximum
2013
5.00
4.50
4.00
1-Jan
21-Jan
10-Feb
2-Mar
22-Mar
11-Apr
1-May
21-May
4.00
7.50
3.50
7.00
3.00
6.50
2.50
Nkurenkuru
Andara
6.00
Rundu
2.00
5.50
1.50
5.00
1.00
1-Jan
21-Jan
10-Feb
2-Mar
22-Mar
11-Apr
1-May
4.50
21-May
The latest comparative upstream riverflow readings for the Upper Zambezi River:
Chavuma (#)
Week before
(15 Mar
2013)
7.00 m
Day before
(21 Mar
2013)
8.03 m
Zambezi
Lukulu (#)
5.18 m
Zambezi
Luanging
a
Zambezi
Matongo (#)
6.53 m
Kalabo (#)
Senanga (#)
Ngonye Rapids
(#)
Katima Mulilo
River
Site
Zambezi
Zambezi
Zambezi
8.19 m
One year
ago (22 Mar
2012)
7.25 m
Two years
ago (22
Mar 2011)
7.61 m
5.42 m
5.53 m
5.55 m
5.88 m
6.50 m
6.50 m
6.60 m
6.73 m
4.45 m
4.29 m
4.27 m
4.30 m
4.22 m
5.08 m
4.94 m
4.92 m
4.63 m
5.31 m
4.88 m
4.78 m
4.75 m
4.55 m
5.10 m
6.20 m
5.88 m
5.82 m
5.19 m
6.58 m
(#) information by courtesy Zambezi River Authority (ZRA)
This morning’s (or latest) riverflow readings:
Latest (22
Mar 2013)
River
Site
One week
ago (17 Mar
2013)
Zambezi
Katima Mulilo
6.11 m
5.77 m
Today
(24
Mar
2013)
5.71 m
Chobe
Ngoma Gate
3.84 m
3.82 m
3.81 m
1.16 m
dry
Kongola
Camp Kwando
(+)
Nkasa-Luapala
(++)
Nkurenkuru
2.89 m
2.85 m
3.25 m
2.56 m
0.47 m
-
-
-
-
-
2.51 m
2.85 m
21-Mar: 0.48
m
21-Mar: 1.54
m
2.41 m
2.38 m
4.51 m
-
Rundu
6.35 m
6.28 m
6.30 m
7.35 m
6.05 m
Andara
2.05 m
2.05 m
-
-
2.84 m
2.72 m
4.94 m
17-Mar: 244
m3/s
2.97 m
1.89 m
Ruacana (==)
2.08 m
14-Mar: 187
m3/s
2.84 m
Kwando
Linyanti
Kavango
Kunene
Orange
Ruacana (=)
0.49 m
1.59 m
Yesterday
(23 Mar
2013)
One year ago
(24 Mar
2012)
Normal
for 24
Mar
5.16 m
4.92 m
-
Katlani (*)
1.12 m
1.12 m
1.12 m
-
-
Upington (**)
0.46 m
0.81 m
0.86 m
-
-
Vioolsdrift (***)
0.18 m
0.07 m
0.06 m
-
-
(+) information by courtesy Riaan Bester
(++) information by courtesy Simone Micheletti
(=) information by courtesy NamPower – averaged flow through turbines (plus any flow over diversion
weir)
(==) reading downstream in river – affected by daily fluctuations resulting from NamPower operations
for flows < 300 m3/s
(*) information by courtesy DWA South Africa – Orange/Vaal confluence
(**) information by courtesy DWA South Africa
(***) information by courtesy DWA South Africa – reading taken at diversion weir
MODIS
images
(http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/subsets/index2.php?
project=FIRMS&subset=Caprivi), show that the floodwaters pushing up in the
Bukalo Channel from the floodplains would now have reached the Katima-Ngoma
road at Bukalo. Also the water in the Chobe River is moving to Lake Liambezi.
The contents of the main dams in the Orange-Senqu River Basin in South Africa are
decreasing (latest readings, by courtesy DWA South Africa). The Vanderkloof Dam
that normally determines the flows in the Lower Orange River is still above 95 %,
but there have been neither reports nor forecasts of new good rains in the
catchment upstream. The flows in the Lower Orange River remain low.
One week ago (17
Mar 2013)
Latest reading (24
Mar 2013)
One year ago (25
Mar 2012)
Vaal Dam
79.8 %
78.9 %
82.6 %
Bloemhof Dam
42.6 %
41.5 %
76.5 %
Gariep Dam
95.3 %
93.7 %
92.1 %
Vanderkloof Dam
95.7 %
95.3 %
83.9 %
Dam
For comparison the main dams in the Fish River catchment in Namibia (latest
readings, by courtesy of NamWater). NamWater reported no rains in the Hardap
catchment and no flows towards the Hardap Dam. The rivers have been virtually dry
for 11 months now.
Dam
One week ago (11
Mar 2013)
This week’s reading (18
Mar 2013)
One year ago
Hardap Dam
46.3 %
45.6 %
70.2 %
Naute Dam
62.3 %
61.8 %
91.7 %
4.8 %
4.6 %
1.8 %
Dreihuk Dam
Drought conditions are persevering and worsening in Namibia, now also for the
northeastern parts of the country. This severe drought was not foreseen (and was
probably not foreseeable), but its development started already in the second half of
January. Remote sensing interpretation of satellite images show the present
situation and patterns well (with the qualification that such processing is mainly
qualitative interpretation and requires ground validation to achieve correct values).
Two useful sites (any information on Namibian sites would be very welcome):

For rainfall (FEWS):
http://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/products/african_desk/cpc_intl/africa/africa.sht
ml

For vegetation conditions (NDVI):
http://pekko.geog.umd.edu/usda/test/index.php?
urlv=3&preferC5=1&green_var=0&mean_mode=2&orig_region_id=1&region_id=77 (still showing internal colonial boundaries?)
The latter image shows that the (relatively) best vegetation (and grazing)
conditions would be in eastern Ohangewena, in northwestern Kavango and
the Caprivi Region.
For information, the same disaster drought conditions are reported in the Cunene
Province in southern Angola (note that the Cunene Province in Angola covers the
Cuvelai and part of the Kunene catchments). See below ANGOP reports, indicating
that 347,000 persons would be affected, needing food aid, and that the agricultural
production is also badly threatened by the failing rainfall.
ANGOP 23-03-2013 8:16
Cunene
Minars assiste mais de 347 mil pessoas afectadas pela seca
Ondjiva – Trezentos e quarenta e sete mil e 133 pessoas afectadas pela seca que se
registou durante o ano de 2012 na província do Cunene recebem apoio em bens
alimentares por parte da direcção da Assistência e Reinserção Social.
O facto foi avançado pelo director provincial em exercício da Assistência e Reinserção
Social, Mateus Ndauulipoupiu, referindo que os apoios visam combater a fome no seio
das famílias vulneráveis.
Segundo o responsável, para acudir esta população o ministério de tutela disponibilizou
850 mil toneladas de produtos diversos, cuja prioridade foi para os municípios de
Ombadja, Kwanhama, Cahama e Curoca, por serem os mais afectados.
Frisou que a par destes beneficiários, o Minars tem assistido, de forma periódica, em
bens alimentar e meios de primeira necessidade, os idosos, deficientes físicos e
crianças órfãos, bem como no apoio e distribuição de meios de locomoção e moto táxis
para geração de pequenos negócios.
ANGOP 21-03-2013 13:17
Cunene
Irregularidades das chuvas ameaçam produção agrícola
Ondjiva - A falta de chuva nos últimos dias na província do Cunene pode comprometer a
colheita de massango, milho e massambala, durante a campanha agrícola 2012/2013,
informou hoje, quinta-feira, o director local da Agricultura e Desenvolvimento Rural,
Dinis Pedro Pacavira.
Em declarações à Angop, o responsável disse que a falta de chuva está a causar a
destruição das culturas dos camponeses, visto que os mesmos receberam o devido
apoio do Executivo através do Instituto de Desenvolvimento Agrário (IDA), vários
instrumentos para o fomento agrícola.
A campanha agrícola foi aberta em Novembro de 2012 e tudo aponta para a fraca
colheita em consequência das chuvas irregulares que a região se debate desde o
passado mês de Janeiro.
Acrescentou que a promoção regular de campanhas agrícolas tem por objectivo apoiar
os pequenos camponeses, através da distribuição de insumos agrícolas e terras
preparadas, com a distribuição gratuita de sementes, fertilizantes, enxadas, catana e
charruas, para garantir a segurança alimentar das famílias.
Com este exercício, frisou, os camponeses adquirem o próprio rendimento, fruto das
colheitas que têm servido também para o auto-sustento das famílias e algumas para
minimizar algumas necessidades, através da venda de produtos, garantindo deste
modo a melhoria da qualidade de vida à população, disse.
Na presente campanha foram disponibilizadas 120 toneladas de cereais diversos, 97 de
fertilizantes para distribuição gratuita a cerca de 91 famílias camponesas, prevendo
uma colheita na ordem dos 60 mil hectares de cereais.
For information, this bulletin and other flood information are available on the NASA
“Namibia
Flood
Dashboard”
website
http://matsu.opencloudconsortium.org/namibiaflood. The direct link for the bulletin
is http://matsu.opencloudconsortium.org/namibiaflood/load_bulletin.
.