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REPORTS that the country is at risk of possible flash flooding because of the incessant rains that have been pounding most parts of the country should be taken seriously by the authorities and members of the public.
The head of Public Service Weather Service in the Meteorological Services Department, Tich Zinyemba, told our sister publication, Sunday News, that people should be ready for flash floods.
He said the wet weather was set to prevail across the country and members of the public should be on alert.
Zinyemba said traditionally flash floods prone areas in the country would be at risk.
The areas that immediately come to mind are Tsholotsho in Matabeleland North and Muzarabani in Mashonaland Central, who over the years have been on the receiving end of the floods.
With such reports, we urge the authorities to take the warning by the Met Department seriously as in the past the floods have brought untold damage to properties with homesteads destroyed and animals swept away.
Strategic infrastructure such as schools, roads and bridges have also not been spared. Such a development has disturbed the lives of the people with children failing to attend school while villagers have been left without food as their barns would have been destroyed.
As part of its disaster preparedness strategy, the government should play a leading role through the Civil Protection Unit (CPU) by reacting swiftly in assisting communities that have been affected.
We have confidence in the CPU whose structures cascade to district level that they would not be found wanting in the unfortunate event that there are some communities hit by the floods.
We also urge residents in urban areas that the floods are not a phenomenon of the rural communities only as already some people in Bulawayo are counting costs of the heavy rains as security walls around some houses were destroyed in the city at the weekend.
Three cars were also washed away off bridges in the Khami area while on Sunday, White City Stadium was turned into a giant swimming pool as water filled the pitch.
The CPU should therefore summon resources to make sure that it is not caught flat footed in the event of a major disaster.
It should also carry out awareness campaigns to hammer to the people about the dangers of the floods and also advise them of what they should do in the event their areas are hit by this natural disaster.
Online Reporter