“My wife and I don’t relax when it’s raining, we take turns to stand at the window watching the rain, we are always on the lookout for flooding and it’s just living in constant fear,” said Mr Xavier Matarutse from Montrose suburb in Gweru.
Mr Maturase’s house has been flooded several times, first in the 2021/22 rainy season and on Tuesday when heavy rain overwhelmed a small stream and shifted the drainage system and filled his home.
Rapid development and poor infrastructure have led to surface water flooding homes in residential areas in the Midlands capital. The most affected areas are low-lying areas and even those in wetlands such as Mkoba 4, 11, 9, Montrose, Ascot Infill, and Mtapa suburbs.
On Tuesday, a two-hour heavy downpour left Gweru residents counting their losses as flash floods caused damage to many properties in the city.
Even in the Central Business District (CBD) especially at the iconic Boogie Tower Clock, motorists and pedestrians had trouble maneuvering as the flash floods filled the roads.
Drivers also moved at slow speeds to avoid having their vehicles’ suspensions affected by the potholes that are a common feature on Gweru roads.
The establishment of settlements on wetlands and waterways has been cited as the major cause of recurring flash floods in the Midlands capital.
“We endured a sleepless night after heavy downpours breached walls and flooded my home. We were forced to use buckets to scoop out the water from the house. Blankets, clothes, household furniture were all drenched in floods and this is taking a toll on me,” said Mr Matarutse.
He said when he was looking for a house to rent, he never thought that he was going to stay in a house constructed on a wetland.
“When it rains it’s not just the water in our, it’s the whole knock-on effect as this has affected us mentally because especially when it rains at night, we can sleep. We take turns watching the rain from the window standing guard for the floods but as always, we are losing the battle,” he said.
Research from the University of York and the Centre for Mental Health found that people who have been flooded in the UK are nine times more likely to experience long-term mental health problems than the general population.
But in the country, Mrs Evelyn Moyo, from Mtapa suburb said no one looks or considers that people affected by flooding might actually need psychological counseling.
Anxiety and depression are also common and symptoms include stress, sleep problems, panic attacks, nightmares, anger, mood swings and increased use of alcohol, prescription drugs, or antidepressants.
Mrs Moyo said Mtapa is one of the flood-prone areas in Gweru adding that it’s like they are living on a knife edge.
“In developed countries, they speak and talk of mental health conditions associated with flooding and here we don’t but you find that we the victims are affected. We are not settled when it rains for fear of flooding,” she said.
The Permanent Secretary for Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services Mr Nick Mangwana on his twitter page wrote, “Residents in some parts of Gweru, yesterday had to endure a sleepless night after heavy downpours breached walls and flooded their homes.
Most affected were Mambo and Ascot high-density suburbs where families were using buckets to scoop out the water. Poor drainage and poor council planning is the main cause.”
According to Mr Peter Makwanya a Climate Change Researcher and lecturer at Zimbabwe Open University, many urban areas are on the frontline of negative impacts of climate change.
“Whether in Harare or Gweru CBD and all other like areas, it has to do mostly with initial planning and material rehabilitation. For instance, in the city of Gweru, we have settlements in the flood plain lying adjacent to the Gweru river. It is supposed to be a breathing space where flooded water should be deposited away from the concentrated urban densities. Now that the flood plain is no more and has been replaced by residential areas, flooding still maintains its path and course, notwithstanding that they’re houses built in error,” he said.
Mr Makwanya said the urban councils are very clear on what needs to be done in terms of spatial planning, in terms of environmental impact assessments and other urban due diligence communities of practice.
Surprisingly, he said, urban authorities like Gweru choose to be careless and unprocedural while throwing all the rules and regulations into the dustbin.
“Furthermore, all this happens in the presence of regulation authorities who have operational Acts to safeguard urban areas and do the needful but it appears as if all the watchdog never exists,” said Mr Makwanya.
He said rehabilitation of aged and obsolete materials such as water pipes need to be replaced and upgraded.
“This is a result of urban populations rapidly increasing thereby increasing pressure on land use practices which do not take into account urban resilience building and environmental sustainability.
A systems approach is required where everything is done about other operational systems, when there is flooding, the road network is affected, so are electric poles and water supplies.
Thinking in terms of integrated systems is key in urban resilience,” said Mr Makwanya.
Gweru Residents and Ratepayers Association director Mr Cornelius Selipiwe said studies have shown that displacement and loss of a sense of place and home are common factors that underscored mental health problems related to flooding, even up to a year afterward.
“There is a need to include mental health issues when we talk of the effects of flooding and how it affects the residents,” he said.
Mr Selipiwe said from the CBD to residential areas, flooding was very common as a result of poor drainage systems and worse because some settlements are established in wetlands.
“In Gweru, basically what we are seeing is as a result of a plethora of challenges that have been bedeviling our city for a long time. We have a challenge in maintaining storm water drains but it is not only the council to blame but residents as well.
Residents have a responsibility to make sure that they don’t dump litter in storm drains.
The local authority must make sure the storm drains are always cleared and therefore the need for civic education.
Residents need to be taught on how to maintain the drains, in town vendors must not dump litter such as cardboard boxes in storm drains because they cause blockages,” he said.
Mr Selipiwe said when it comes to the construction of houses in wetlands, the local authority must have a deliberate policy that forces private contractors to invest in proper drainages in the form of culverts, bridges and roads before they are permitted to sell the stands.
“Some of the flooding is taking place in settlements started by private housing developers. I think there is a need for a design or plan from GCC that they must follow in terms of servicing their areas. Now each and every developer is doing what they want without proper servicing of areas and this has resulted in recurrent flooding of people’s houses,” he said.
Gweru City Council spokesperson Ms Vimbai Chingwaramusee said vendors and residents were blocking drainage systems by dumping litter and also planting vegetables and crops in water ways causing blockages of the drainage systems.
The local authority has set up evacuation centers in Mambo (Shumba Hall), Senga (Ingwe Hall), Mtapa (Mtapa Hall) and Woodlands (Nazarene Church of Christ), Mkoba 2 Hall, Mkoba 10 clubhouse and Muwunga Primary School for flood victims.
In 2021, Gweru residents experienced floods in most low-lying areas of Mkoba, Nashville, Athlone, Riverside and Ascot. #TheSun
