Gwayi river floods leave 1,500 people homeless

The worst floods in living memory washed away hundreds of houses in Tsholotsho, about 100 km northwest of Bulawayo in Zimbabwe’s Matabeleland province, leaving at least 1,500 people homeless, the ‘Daily News’ reported on Thursday. Residents of Tsholotsho awoke last week to find the district flooded after the Gwayi river, which meanders its way through the area, burst its banks after heavy rains. Hundreds of families fled into the mountains as a huge mass of water destroyed their homes and livestock. A 17-year-old boy was carried away by the floods, bringing to 15 the number of people killed countrywide since the start of the heavy rains. Three schools were closed after people were evacuated from villages in the area. They ended up at Sipepa Hospital where tents were erected for the flood victims. School lessons are now being held in the open in the hospital grounds. Donations have reportedly poured in from NGO’s, notably the Zimbabwe Red Cross Society. The opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) has also donated foodstuffs with the ministry of health and child welfare boosting its staff at the hospital in readiness for any disease outbreak. Besides displacing villagers, the floods have damaged infrastructure such as roads and bridges, forcing bus operators and delivery vans to curtail services.