Severe flooding in Norton dominates full council meeting

Diana Nherera

Norton Town Council held its 292nd Ordinary Meeting of Council yesterday and discussed severe flooding in Wards 5, 11, 12 and 13.

Town Secretary Mr Kizito Muhomba said the council is working on addressing the situation.

“A key concern is the intersection of John O’Groats and Shonhiwa Drive, where the council instructed the Town Engineer to ensure that the road is accessible and safe for traffic,” he said.

In her report, Town Engineer Bester Maramba said Norton is vulnerable to flooding due to its geographical location.

“The town has an average elevation of approximately 1 370metres above sea level and is situated in a relatively flat area.

“The areas surrounding Norton have wetlands and floodplains that can become saturated during heavy rainfall, leading to flooding.

“From 26 to 28 February, 2025, Norton received rains that caused flooding in Wards 5, 11, 12 and 13, which are low-lying areas with overloaded storm water infrastructure,” she said.

“Possible causes are climate change, proliferation of settlements upstream, increased run-off due to human activities, construction of illegal structures (boundary walls and cottages) along waterways and inadequate infrastructure,” said Engineer Maramba.

She said there is need to remove illegal infrastructures.

“There is need to open all deflecting infrastructure to distribute the flow load, re-route major drains to minimize meandering and increase the capacity of storm water infrastructure. In the long term, we should eliminate some stands to create a direct flow route,” she said.