City counts costs as heavens open up

Temba Dube Senior Reporter
FLOODS swept three vehicles off bridges into the raging Khami River in Bulawayo while residents’ property worth thousands of dollars was damaged as knee-level rainwater drenched their homes yesterday.
Passengers in the vehicles escaped unhurt.
Residents said heavy rains pounded the city for almost the whole night.

A number of people from Nkulumane, Nketa, Lobengula, Pumula, Cowdray Park, Mzilikazi, Magwegwe North, Pelandaba and parts of Kelvin North said electricity went off soon after the rain started.

Chronicle followed the trail of destruction from Nkulumane to Khami about 23km from the city centre where at least 16 houses were flooded.

In a state of panic residents called the Fire Brigade who could not get to them as roads were covered in water.
Just after the Khami Prison turn off, to the left of the road, villagers saved a family of five from drowning after their vehicle was washed off a bridge.

Witnesses said the rain started at 7PM and within an hour Pikinini (the smaller) Khami River was flooded.
“A man tried to drive over that bridge and his engine cut off in the middle. The car automatically shut the windows and locked the doors,” said Frank Songo, 54, of Dunkirk Village.

“He was with a woman, another man and two school children – a boy and a girl. The water swept the car off the bridge. The family broke windows and was carried away by the river.”

Added Songo: “We rescued them one by one and helped to secure the car to some trees so that it would not be washed away. The water had already dragged it about 300 metres downstream. I have never seen so much rain, since Cyclone Eline hit the country in 2000.”

The news crew failed to get to the scenes because the road was flooded while the family could not be located yesterday.
Siphiwe Mthembo, 70, of Nkulumane 12 said water began flooding her home about 30 minutes after the rain started falling.

“I have never seen such rain. It was pouring from the skies in a solid sheet. It started around 11.45 PM. There were scary flashes of lightning and loud thunder that struck fear in my heart. I got out of bed and fell into a pool of water,” said Mthembo.

She said she heard her neighbours screaming and got even more scared.
“After about 45 minutes, white water from Phekiwe River came gushing through my gate, straight into the house. I climbed back onto the bed and through flashes of lightning, I watched the level of the water rising steadily, until it reached knee level. I was sure that I was going to drown, together with my daughter who was in the house,” said Mthembo.

Her next door neighbours at House Number 14385 were not so lucky.
The Ndlovu family had almost all the property in their six-roomed house damaged by the flood.

“We have lost everything. So far the stove is the only electrical appliance that is working. Other gadgets were submerged in water that reached just below the knees. We spent the night on our feet. We first tried to scoop the water out but we soon gave up,” said Jeffery Ndlovu, 54.

His wife, Mavis Ndlovu, said she was angry because residents had complained about the clogged drains to the area councillor, Earnest Rafamoyo who did nothing.

“We shall demand compensation from council for everything that was affected. As you can see, most of the furniture is outside in the sun where we hope it will get dry,” she said.

Bulawayo police spokesperson Inspector Mandlenkosi Moyo confirmed that two more vehicles were washed off bridges along the Bulawayo Solusi Road.

Insp Moyo warned residents against attempting to cross flooded rivers.
“It is fortunate that all the people in the cars survived. However, this could have been avoided if the drivers had been patient and waited for the water to subside,” said Insp Moyo.