The good rain received in Windhoek yesterday has brought with it some misery, leaving some residents homeless.

When it rains, it brings relief. But in most cases, the people who live in Windhoek's informal settlements fear floods when they see dark clouds.

The fears of the residents of Oshitenda were confirmed yesterday when heavy rains poured down and flooded their houses.

Those who built their homes in river beds and on the edges are the ones who are affected.

All belongings were soaked in water, and children, who were preparing for the approaching exams, lost all their school books. House contents and furniture were also damaged.

One of the residents, Anna Wendeinge, has lived here for more than twenty years, saying she had nowhere else to construct her house.

This area was also flooded in 2015 when the City of Windhoek informed the residents to relocate.

"As you can see, all those shacks were destroyed by the rain yesterday. Some of us were not even home, and most of the shacks were underwater. We need help from the City of Windhoek or from good samaritans to assist us so that we can be saved or just be moved because we do not know when it will rain again and we do not know when these river beds will be blocked again. "

The City of Windhoek's Councillor Shafiishuna Nujoma says the damage to the houses was a result of waste dumped in the riverbed, blocking the waterway. 

He says the emergency disaster department is hands-on to provide a solution for the residents. 

"The way forward is that they will do an assessment and we will see whether these people need to be relocated. As you can see, we are expecting good rains and we don't know if that will affect them, so we are exploring many options together with the |Khomas Regional Council. So we are on the ground. We will see if we can not come up with better ways to educate our residents not to dump in the river and not to build in the river. They are here because there is a need for land, so we will look at all these things."