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Tobias Mudzingwa Herald Reporter
Harare City Council (HCC) says there is likely to be no flash flooding in the central business district (CBD) this rainy season, as they are taking measures to guard against this perennial problem.

Flash floods have become an annual phenomenon in the city every summer, and often result in increased traffic congestion and unwarranted for delays in the city centre.

HCC spokesperson Mr Michael Chideme told The Herald that the  removal of vendors who were trading on the city’s streets will positively impact on efforts to counter flash flooding.

“The biggest measure that we have taken so far is the relocation of the informal sector from the CBD.

“They were the ones who were stuffing their wares and garbage in the drainage system and now that they are no longer on the streets we feel we have a better chance of containing the flash floods this year,” said Mr Chideme.

“Our teams will soon be on the ground in the CBD to unblock all the blocked drainage systems because when you go to the system, it’s full of rotten maize shells, peas, cabbages and tomatoes so once those are removed and there is no return of members of the informal sector on the streets, then we have a much better chance of containing the flash flooding in the CBD.”

Asked why council awaits the eleventh hour to clear trenches instead of embarking on the exercise well in time, Mr Chideme said there was an early deployment this year.

“We have already deployed our teams to clear the drainage system around the city because the drainage clearance is not an event but a whole year thing that we do in all areas because the system clogs from time to time,” he said.

Mr Chideme also said the trench clearance is not only confined to the CBD, as the same is happening in residential areas.

Investigations by The Herald revealed that in areas such as Highfield, extensive clearing of drainage system is taking place.