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Michael Magoronga Midlands Correspondent
About 30 families in Nembudziya, Gokwe North District, were left counting their losses after their houses and livestock were swept away by flash floods on Monday.

Midlands Acting Provincial Development Coordinator (PDC) Mr Fortune Mpungu confirmed the disaster in the wake of rains that hit most parts of the country.
Gokwe received a total of 185 mm of rainfall, the highest in years.

“We have about 30 families in Gokwe North that were left homeless after floods swept through the area on Monday. Besides the homes that were submerged by water, we also have livestock and property that were swept away by the floods,” said Mr Mpungu, who is also the acting chair of the Provincial Civil Protection Committee.

He said while no casualties or serious injuries were reported, some of the villagers sustained minor injuries.
He said the Civil Protection Department had already provided temporary shelter for the affected families.

“The district CPD is also in the process of mobilising foodstuffs for the affected families,” said Mr Mpungu, adding: “We have since advised families that are living along Sengwa River who are also practising river bank cultivation to move to safer places. Most of these families abandon their homes to move to the river banks which they consider to have fertile soils and we have since started the process of moving them,” he said.

He said the most affected areas were Sengwa, Chireya and Nenyunga.
The floods come at a time when the Meteorological Services Department (MSD) has warned of impending heavy rainfall coupled with thunderstorms and the possibility of flash flooding.

Meanwhile, six schools in Kwekwe district were destroyed by a hailstorm that swept through the district.
Samambwa Primary School in Zhombe was totally destroyed.

Mr Mpungu said following a Government directive for local authorities to renovate infrastructure destroyed by hailstorms, they had delegated Zibagwe Rural District Council to make sure that the school was reconstructed.