Following a briefing with the regional leadership on the ongoing floods in the Zambezi region on Wednesday, President Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah visited Luhonono in the Kabbe North Constituency to assess the situation on the ground.
The area serves as the harbour for residents going to Nankutwe, Muzi, Mupukano and many other villages which are now only accessible by boat.
The Zambezi leadership informed President Nandi-Ndaitwah of the schools that have been closed in the area, with learners awaiting relocation.
They also updated her on parents' and other community members' reluctance to move.
The regional leadership, however, were hopeful that they would eventually move to higher or safer grounds.
"It's also true, when you are used to a place, for you to relocate is always a challenge until really when the water itself comes and pushes you out; by then, at that time, we are dealing with a crisis," says Nandi-Ndaitwah.
She asked that the regional leadership, including traditional authorities, help inform the people of the danger that may present itself if they continue to live surrounded by bodies of water.
Affected residents have recently said their reluctance was due to previously running out of food supplies in the temporary camps, while many of them do not want to leave their homes out of fear of losing their belongings to thieves. Others state that they feel unwelcome after months of being sheltered in villages that are not theirs.
The Zambezi Regional Council's director for planning and rural development is Beavan Walubita.
"But we also presented to her the plans that the ministry of health, through the regional council, has in terms of supporting clinics that are surrounded by water, where we have a boat at Impalila, and this boat is being used to take services to clinics at Mbalasinte and Itomba, and there is an arrangement with the ministry by giving fuel to local individuals who have boats."
Those with boats, he says, are given fuel to transport patients in the area who may be in need of medical attention to either the Mbalasinte, Impalila or Itomba clinics.