The ManicaPost
Ray Bande
Senior Reporter
HEAVY rains received on Friday night left residents in some parts of Dreamhouse and Zimta suburbs in Mutare counting their losses after houses were flooded while some cottages and precast walls crumpled.
It was a sorry sight this morning (Saturday) as residents scooped mud from their houses while others were excavating rubbles to recover broken pieces of furniture.
Most of the affected residents do not know where their next meal will come from after their groceries were either washed away or soaked in mud and given the current Covid-19 lockdown restrictions, the area has plunged into a state of humanitarian crises.
So heavy was yesterday rainfall that part of the nearby railway line to Harare was badly damaged as concrete beneath the iron bars was washed away.
Roads in Dreamhouse and Zimta, that had already been a deplorable state, were left impassable.
Bore “We have sent a team on the ground and so far the report that I have received is that there is no one who needs to be evacuated. There is need for assistance in terms of food and clothes as some residents lost everything. In this regard, we have started the process of mobilizing input from partners as well as Government. The Social Welfare guys are now on the ground to address that. We have also informed NRZ of the need to repair part of the railway line that was badly damaged.”
According to the Meteorological Services Department, Mutare received 57 millimeters on Thursday and Friday, cumulatively.
Chief Meteorological Officer for Manicaland Mr Lukas Murambi said: “The thing is that this is the normal rainfall pattern for January for Mutare but in the past three or four years we have not been receiving the same but otherwise going into the past the amount of rainfall we are getting this year in January is the normal one for Mutare. Because of that the water table has risen and any rains that will be received from now on may result in flooding in affected areas (Dreamhouse and Zimta).”
