Rains leave a trail of destruction

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SCORES of families in Epworth have been rendered homeless after their houses were destroyed by rains that have been pounding the country for the past week.

SCORES of families in Epworth have been rendered homeless after their houses were destroyed by rains that have been pounding the country for the past week.

by FELUNA NLEYA

The Standard visited the settlement, situated in the eastern periphery of Harare and witnessed the trail of destruction caused by the incessant rains.

In Karoi hundreds of travellers and motorists were stranded for many hours yesterday when rising waters flooded Chikuti Bridge along the Harare to Chirundu highway.

Long queues of vehicles snaked for up to 40 kilometres on both sides of the bridge for most of the day with the floods only subsiding in the afternoon.

According to ZBC 10 people have so far died in separate flooding incidents in Mashonaland West province, and 16 others were in need of urgent rescue from where they were marooned.

The first incident saw eight people from the same family dying after the vehicle they were travelling in was swept away by the flooded Ngwazani river between Battlefields and Zimplats, while two others were swept away by flooded Angwa river in the same Mashonaland West province.

The situation was also dire in Harare where hundreds of people in Epworth have had to endure nights in the open after their houses were destroyed.

A visit to Epworth yesterday confirmed many houses, most of which are made of uncured bricks and earth mortar had collapsed in this sprawling settlement of mostly illegal structures. The destruction took place in the past week of non-stop rains that have drenched most of the country.

Takaziva Mawire said his family of eight had nowhere to go after their house was flattened by the rains.

“It has been raining non-stop for the past three days. Our houses were affected because our bricks are not that strong,” Mawire said.

“We are going to use plastic paper in the meantime since we do not have the money to rebuild the walls.”

Another resident Simon Mututu whose house was also destroyed called on the government and local authorities to assist the affected families saying what happened in Epworth was a disaster.

“Our house fell due to the rains at around 11am today (yesterday),” Mututu said. “We were all inside the house but luckily no one got hurt. We are all fine. The bad thing is we no longer have a house and we really do not know what we are going to do as we have young children.”

Kamurere Gadzirayi who is also resident in Epworth had his three-roomed house destroyed by the rains. He said he did not know where to start after his house was destroyed on Friday.

“I was in Mutoko when I received a phone call that my house was destroyed by the rains. I am devastated,” Gadzirayi said. “I am in pain over what happened to my home. I do not even know where I will start from to have my home back. We will have to improvise so that we have a place to sleep in the meantime.”

Terrence Kwadoka said his two-roomed structure was also destroyed by the rains on Friday night at around 3AM.

“The walls collapsed at around 3AM. We ended up taking the children to the neighbours,” Kwadoka said.

The country has been experienting incessant rains for the past week and the Meteorological Services department said the rains were expected to continue until at least end of day today. The department has also issued warnings of floods in low lying areas such as Muzarabani.

Unconfirmed reports said most dams in the country were fast filling up although efforts to get official dam levels failed yesterday.