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George Maponga Masvingo Bureau
The Zimbabwe National Water Authority (ZINWA) has dismissed social media messages indicating plans to open floodgates at Tugwi-Mukosi Dam in southern Masvingo.
Tugwi-Mukosi is the largest inland dam in Zimbabwe and is at full capacity following incessant rains in its catchment in the last rainy season.
Since its commissioning in 2017, the dam’s floodgates have never been opened.
Messages were awash on social media to the effect that floodgates at the water body would be opened today.
The social media messages further warned people downstream of the dam to be on high alert for potential flooding after the opening of the gates.
ZINWA on its Twitter page urged Zimbabweans to ignore the message, saying it was false.
According to the Tweet by the water body, there were no plans to open the floodgates and any future plans to open them would be communicated officially.
Tugwi-Mukosi Dam precipitated one of the largest mass relocation of people in post-independent Zimbabwe following flooding in its basin in 2014 when the water body was still under construction.
Families who lived in the basin were eventually relocated to Chingwizi, but some lost their property and livestock in the ensuing floods.
Online Reporter