MORE than 300 households in Sioma District, Western Province have been submerged by flash floods, with over 800 hectares of maize fields destroyed.
To make matters worse, elephants have also encroached on farmers’ fields, leaving families facing a double tragedy of flood damage and wildlife intrusion.
Sioma District acting agriculture coordinator Chipobe Hangomba confirmed the development during a monitoring exercise conducted with the provincial disaster management and mitigation unit.
“It is estimated that in the whole district about 800 hectares of crops Field have been affected with the floods. Total number of 300 households have been affected,” said Hangomba.
Meanwhile, reports of elephant encroachments on farmers’ fields were recorded, further worsening the situation for affected communities.
DMMU provincial coordinator for Western Province Agnes Mwangala described the situation as a double tragedy, stating that a report will be submitted to the relevant authority for urgent intervention.
“The unfortunate thing is that there’s a double tragedy in that apart from the flash floods we have seen the fields that they’ve been invaded also by elephants.”
“So you find that the elephants come in the night. They would come to destroy the field, eat the maize, eat the crops and the the flash floods come and submerge the crops, so our people are in need of assistance. We are going to do the reports and we are going to submit them to the relevant authorities and they’ll take it up from there,” said Mwangala.
By Daniel Banda
Kalemba February 23, 2026
