Drought is parching the world's largest man-made lake, stripping Zambia of its electricity

For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Like everyone in Zambia, Sikunyongana is facing a daily struggle to find and afford electricity during a climate-induced energy crisis that’s robbed the southern African country of almost all its power. Zambia's worst electricity blackouts in memory have been caused by a severe drought in the region that has left the critical Kariba dam, the source of Sikunyongana's woes, with insufficient water to run its hydroelectric turbines. “This is also going to increase poverty levels in the country,” said economist Trevor Hambayi, who fears Zambia's economy will shrink dramatically if the power crisis is prolonged. Experts say there's also no guarantee those rains will come and it's dangerous to rely on a changing climate given Zambia has had drought-induced power problems before, and the trend is they are getting worse.