For Prisca Moyo, a resident of Sizinda, the sight of darkening skies over Bulawayo brings a familiar dread. The thought of another night of bailing water from her modest two-bedroomed house, or the exhausting task of drying out her furniture the next day, is enough to make her heart sink.
While the
recent rains pounding the city are supposed to be a blessing for residents of
the water-scarce City of Bulawayo, some residents in suburbs such as Sizinda,
Emakhandeni and Cowdray Park now see the downpours as a curse.
Moyo’s house is
situated in a low area of Sizinda, making it susceptible to flash flooding even
with small amounts of rain, she told Saturday Chronicle yesterday.
“Nowadays, it
doesn’t take much rain for my yard to be filled with water. On the worst days,
the rainwater starts flowing into the house and anything inside that sits on
the floor such as sofas, gets wet.
Every day when
it rains is a battle to get the water out of the house. Instead of rejoicing
when it rains, I feel like the rains are a curse,” said Moyo.
A snap survey
by the news crew in the suburb of Sizinda showed that poor drainage is
affecting many houses as evidenced by damp surfaces and walls that have turned
greenish due to exposure to stagnant water for long periods.
When water
turns walls greenish, it’s usually because of the growth of algae, a type of
microscopic plant life that thrives in damp conditions and can appear on
surfaces like walls, especially when there is constant moisture present.
An elderly
resident, Alisto Ndau, says he has resigned himself to the daily struggles of
living in a water-soaked home whenever it rains.
“My yard turns
muddy and slippery whenever it rains. There is nothing we can do about the
pools of water that form in the yard,” said Ndau.
He said he sees
no need to repaint the section of his house that has turned greenish due to
stagnant rainwater in the yard whenever it rains.
In Cowdray
Park, Millian Phiri built an immaculate home for herself and her kids but the
rainy season makes her regret the decision to build a house in that section of
the suburb.
“We are in
trouble whenever it rains. The situation gets worse when Cowdray Park receives
a lot of rain as our property gets submerged in water,” said Phiri.
In her bedroom,
Phiri has piled blankets and her kids’ clothes on top of the bed to prevent
them from getting soaked.
Almost all of
my close neighbours are affected. Maybe building our homes in this part of
Cowdray Park was a mistake,” she said.
As persistent
rains continue to wreak havoc in New Lobengula, Prince Nhliziyo is now forced
to elevate his household property using bricks to avoid water damage.
Last month,
during a meeting attended by various government departments, including the
Civil Protection Unit (CPU) and council representatives to assess the situation
on the ground, Tswagai Fikile Marovatsanga, the Director of Local Government in
Bulawayo, promised that work on the drainage system will start soon after the
rains in Cowdray Park.
The situation
in affected suburbs is likely to worsen as the Meteorological Service
Department of Zimbabwe (MSD) has predicted normal to above-normal rainfall
across the country for the 2024-2025 rainfall season. Chronicle
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