Beitbridge hit by flash floods

SEVERAL houses were submerged in water while roads were rendered impassable following a heavy storm which pounded Beitbridge and Musina towns yesterday. The Musina Mall was flooded, while several cars were caught up in the floods caused by poor drainage systems.

The hardest-hit areas were Dulivhadzimo suburb, which has very poor drainage systems.

The Beitbridge meteorological office said the 76,4mm rainfall was the highest received this year and the second highest for the whole season.

Mayor Munyaradzi Chitsunge said the roads at Dulivhadzimo were now impassable after being washed away by the rains.

“We need surfaced roads. However, we have no equipment at the moment. We need to surface our roads to win this war,” Chitsunge said.

He said the amount they received from the Zimbabwe National Road Administration was inadequate to rehabilitate the roads.

“At times, they give a local authority $2 million only, which is released in small instalments that cannot do anything,” he said.

He said Beitbridge had about 13 000 vehicles and these could raise about $65 million per term in licence fees, but the local authority always got paltry allocations for its roads.

“We are talking about small vehicles only and imagine the number of large vehicles we handle per day,” he said.

On the issue of the flooded houses in lower Dulivhadzimo, the mayor said: “We are considering getting a developer who will create a lasting solution to the area. Soon we will have a solution.”