Thousands homeless after Zimbabwe floods

Source: AFP

Date: 19 December 2007

Author: Anon

Harare - Some 600 families have been left homeless in a remote area of northeastern Zimbabwe after floods washed away buildings and crops as well as disrupting power supplies, a state daily reported Wednesday. A violent storm which pounded the area last Thursday and Friday swept away livestock including goats, pigs and sheep, poultry, clothes,blankets, furniture and other household goods, The Herald reported. Wibie Kagodo, a councillor for Chadereka, one of the affected villages said villagers had started receiving relief from the department of social welfare and non-governmental organisations. "So far, we have received at least one tonne of maize meal from the Zimbabwe Farmers' Union, 140 blankets and tents from the department of social welfare and Red Cross," he said. The government's Civil Protection Unit (CPU) had organised food, water purification tablets and other relief supplies for the affected families, Chadereka said. Already three people have died and one is missing in the Chadereka area of Muzarabani, according to the CPU. Officials had been deployed in airforce helicopters to assess the extent of the flood damage. Some families have been temporarily sheltered at two schools in the area and homesteads on higher ground. Every year, Muzarabani which is situated in the Zambezi Valley, experiences floods because of its low-lying terrain.