adminRichard Muponde, Gwanda Correspondent
GWANDA town has run dry after a pump which draws water from Mtshabezi Dam to the mining town was swept away by floods on Wednesday.
The town has gone for three days without water as a result of the incident, Gwanda mayor, Councillor Knowledge Ndlovu confirmed yesterday.
He said they were enlisting the services of the police sub aqua unit to retrieve the pump from Mtshabezi River.
“The rains that fell swept away the pump station after Mtshabezi flooded. Our engineers went to the site on Thursday and they recommended that we enlist the services of divers to try and recover the engines. As it stands there is no pumping happening at the dam,” said Clr Ndlovu.
He urged residents to be patient as efforts were being made to restore water to the town.
“I hope as we go to the weekend the pumps would have been retrieved,” he said. Floods continue to wreak havoc in Gwanda District.
In West Nicholson, 17 people were marooned on Tuesday and Wednesday when Mbembesi and Umzingwane Rivers burst their banks.
They were later rescued by a helicopter dispatched from Bulawayo.
Earlier in the week, the flooding of Mbembesi River resulted in a portion of the Bulawayo-Beitbrige highway being closed near West Nicholson.
As a result, vehicles travelling between Zimbabwe and South Africa were stranded for about 12 hours.
— @richardmuponde
Online Reporter