admin
Peter Matika, Senior Reporter
MS FLORENCE Chirambadare had just knocked off from work at the Chimanimani Hotel, near her home in the Eastern Highlands at around 5pm of Friday, 16 March, when she noticed some ominous looking clouds in the sky.
“It was a dark and terrible phenomenon,” she said, in a heart wrenching telephone interview, where she noted that she had never seen or experienced such heavy rains in her lifetime. Ms Chirambadare is one of the survivors of the devastating Cyclone Idai whose death toll as of Friday stood at 154 people while some hundreds are still missing in Manicaland and parts of Masvingo.
“The amount of bodies I saw drifting away in those angry waters . . . (a brief moment of silence, as her voice evidently painted a picture of what she had seen) I really don’t know how to say it but it was painful, I knew some of those people,” said Ms Chirambadare, her voice choking with emotions.
She said she lived in a house near the hotel in an area classified as a low density suburb. Ms Chirambadare said the rains started pouring at around 6pm, while she and her children were at the Bible school in her neighbourhood — Ngangu New Stands.
“We went home after church and we slept. During the night we felt a loud thud and the ground shaking, it was like an earthquake. The rains had become heavy, so heavy that one couldn’t see anything outside,” she recalled.
At dawn she said all she saw were large amounts of water gushing and spilling, with gullies and mini streams having been formed.
“As I looked into the mountains I realised the loud thud we had heard. It was part of a mountainous area that had crumbled and destroyed some houses. Some houses were no longer there and it was evident they had been washed away and people had died. And all this was near my home. People had died in the middle of the night as we slept. My best friend died, I lost my best friend. People couldn’t see that danger was coming. Houses had been washed away, some had been crushed and some crumbling. Property worth millions was lost, livestock, cars and infrastructure had been destroyed by large boulders from the mountains,” said Ms Chirambadare.
Fearing for two children’s lives as well as hers, she decided to pack a few clothing items and identity particulars and find shelter elsewhere. Despite the calamity having died down the water levels were rising. This was the point she had to make a do or die decision — get out of the house or die inside. It, however, took them at least two hours to leave the house and make it safely to their alternative place of shelter at the Chimanimani Hotel.
“There was water all over, it had flooded the house. I decided to take my children and find shelter at work. It felt somewhat like a movie script. We ran and ran as fast as we could holding on tight to each other,” she said.
Ms Chirambadare said by Sunday afternoon 60 bodies had been retrieved and buried at the heroes’ acre.
“Some had to be buried on site because of the devastation and the fear for accumulation of bodies. Some had to be buried in twos in a single grave. I even witnessed a whole family being buried. It was the most painful thing to witness. No one deserves to die like that. One man lost an entire family and was shattered; he was away and only returned home the following day to discover their home had been destroyed and his family dead. It was the most painful thing to witness,” said Ms Chirambadare.
She noted that residents, too afraid to return home, camped at the hotel in the cold and darkness on Saturday night and Sunday, where they recounted harrowing stories of being separated from their loved ones and friends, a day after the devastating Cyclone Idai hit, unleashing a trail of destruction that left people dead, with hundreds still unaccounted for.
“The hotel is overwhelmed at the moment, all its facilities are occupied. Supplies are quite an issue but people are surviving. Since the cyclone died some have resorted to return to their homes while some still have no shelter as their houses were destroyed and some still fear the storm may return,” said Ms Chirambadare.
She added that it was fortunate that on the day the disaster struck there was no electricity.
“Thank God there was no Zesa across the town. Can you imagine what a disaster that would have been? People would have been electrocuted to death. It’s amazing what God can do. For now we are all exhausted but are grateful for life and the assistance that we have been receiving from across the country,” said Ms Chirambadare.
Her story is just one among many as the country tries to find its feet after the effects of Cylone Idai. The cyclone is classified as one of the biggest natural disasters to hit the southern hemisphere. President Mnangagwa who visited the affected areas last week declared yesterday and today as national days of mourning.
derick.khumalo