Floods paralyse Gwanda as bridges collapse, water supply threatened

Municipality of Gwanda pump house

By Jonah B Moyo

GWANDA — Severe flooding along the Mtshabezi River has cut off communities, destroyed critical infrastructure, and pushed Gwanda town toward a looming water crisis, the Civil Protection Committee has confirmed.

Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) Focal Person Awakhiwe Moyo said the committee was alerted on March 22 after the main bridge over the river became impassable due to rising water levels, stranding motorists and pedestrians.

The Zimbabwe National Water Authority (ZINWA) has confirmed that several dams in the Mzingwane Catchment are now full, with Mtshabezi Dam already spilling while Insiza and Mayfair dams are expected to overflow imminently if inflows continue.

At the same time, rivers including Tuli, Mtshabezi and Mzingwane are experiencing dangerously high water levels, with some sections overtopping their banks and flooding nearby areas.

The footbridge in Mtshabezi Bridge commonly known as ‘Mutengatenga’ was destroyed yesterday by floods and people were left with no other options for crossing.

Infrastructure was also destroyed by the floods as it is reportedly flooding level broke the previous records as in past 10 years Gwanda didn’t experience such levels of Water in Mtshabezi River.

The water had reached levels that had never been seen in the past ten years. The big garden that was along mtshabezi river was nowhere to be seen, just a small portion that kept on being swallowed by the increasing water levels.

Gwanda District Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) Focal Person Awakhiwe Moyo said the situation at Mtshabezi River was for the first time after ten years and even footbridges were destroyed leaving residents stranded.

“The chairperson then called members of the civil protection committee, and the committee wentto Hamden plots, prison farm, where there is a second footbridge, to assess if people could use that one to cross over. The footbridge had also been swept away by the heavy floods. The big garden that was along mtshabezi river was nowhere to be seen, just a small portion that kept on being swallowed by the increasing water levels,” he said.

He highlighted that the water pumping system for Municipality of Gwanda was also covered with water.

“The municipality of Gwanda, the water pumping house, was underwater. The pump house was indeed deep inside the water. The motor engines could not be seen as they were under the water, and no one could gain access as the water was too powerful,” Moyo said.

He also added that after few hours water levels dropped and the engineering department assessed the situation and there was a lot of damage.

“the engineering department Investigated damages and found out that the The surge in river levels has resulted in the submergence of the pump house and these were the findings there was Electromechanical Failure: Silt and debris infiltration into the pump casings and motor windings, Control Systems: Total loss of all electronic control systems, Structural Integrity: Damage to the intake manifold due to heavy debris impact, Infrastructure Access: The access road to the station is currently eroded, hindering the movement of heavy repair machinery and the the pump house needs immediate Relocation of the pump house,” DRR focal person said.

Moyo added that there were communities that were marooned.

“the committee had received a report that miners at Sheet Farm, near Blanket Mine, were marooned. After three hours when the water had subsidized, the Civil Protection Committee managed to assess the situation, eighteen miners were unharmed. They confirmed it was only those eighteen on site and could not confirm if there were any fatalities as previously reported, stating people were swept away by the flooding waters.
 
“We received reports that sixteen people are marooned at the confluence of Tuli River and Mewe River, in Tshoboyi. The area is inaccessible due to flooding, but communication is being established through the councillor who isintouch with the marooned people. The Civil Protection Committee could not access the area as Tuli River is overflowing. Furthermore, reports indicate the Sibula community is also marooned by Wovi and Maleme River, “ he said.

Authorities are now engaging Blanket Mine for assistance in constructing temporary footbridges and drying damaged motor engines.

Other villagers in Gwanda south who were traveling in Green horse bus from rural areas to town where stuck at Tuli Manyange.

Marvelous Siphali one of the passengers had this to say.

“We arrive here early but we couldn’t cross this bridge as water was passing above the bridge and we ended up going back where we came from so that we can use Manama Bridge as water seemed to be still flowing in non stop,” she said.

Green Horse bus driver Malioit Mazinyane Ndlovu said the safety of the people matters.

“There is no need to try to be a hero because you will end up killing more than 50 people because of negligence. When we arrived here at Tuli Manyange bridge we found water passing above the bridge and we couldn’t manage to cross we waited for a moment and we opted to turn the bus and try to cross at Manama Bridge which is the highest in this area,” he said.

The Civil Protection Unit and ZINWA urged the public to stay away from rivers, livestock to be driven away from river and people should practice safety first as there is still more rainfall expected to come.

Mtshabezi high school dam breached, but the dam is owned by the school,  it did not affect flooding to Gwanda as it feeds to Sheet Dam and Sheet Damfeeds to Blanket Dam. Another private Dam Insindi  in Sterwart farm also breached, and this affected feeds into Mtshabezi river directly.

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