BY KENNETH NYANGANI
THE Meteorological Services Department (MSD) yesterday said that Cyclone Chalane, which significantly weakened into a tropical storm, has now passed without having caused the catastrophic damage as earlier anticipated.
In its latest update on Chalane, the department said it would continue to monitor specific areas which could still receive some heavy rains in the next few days.
“Tropical Depresssion Chalane has greatly weakened and is now passed,” the department said.
“We continue to monitor specific areas to assess rainfalls and downstream effects as significant rainfalls occurred along the path of the system. Light rains and winds are now expected.”
The announcement came as heavy rains which had threatened to wreak havoc in Chimanimani district, with some rivers already flooded and roads damaged, subsided yesterday, much to the relief of villagers who resisted government’s efforts to evacuate to safer havens.
Though there has not been any major destruction recorded so far, some roads leading to Ngangu B residential area were flooded on Wednesday.
Because of the flooding in the area, as of yesterday, residents in the low lying areas like Ngangu Township were still being evacuated to safer places like Mutambara Mission and St Patricks Mission schools.
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Of six buses earmarked to carry villagers to safer havens, only two had been used according to government
Chimanimani villagers are yet to recover from the ravages of the March 2019 Cyclone Idai.
Out of 487 people that were earmarked for evacuation from extremely risky areas in Chimanimani, only 118 heeded the government’s call.
The government has already indicated that they were facing resistance from the villagers.
NewsDay visited Mutambara High School where 78 villagers from Ngangu were housed, where some of them said they desired to permanently relocate to other places.
The interviews by NewsDay was done under strict conditions and monitored by government officials. The villagers during the interviews were told to only focus on the positives.
However, one villager who identified himself as Muchirahondo had none of it.
“We are sick and tired by being endlessly moved from one place to another, the government should simply give us stands in safe areas because Cyclones will continue to affect us,” he said
Memory Mhlanga from Ngangu weighed in saying that they were hoping the government to solve their accommodation issue. “We are not happy with the government , we need stands outside Ngangu, because we will continue to be moved whenever there is a Cyclone, it’s almost a year after Cyclone Idai affected us and we have not been given a stand,” she said.
Jani Mapise said they were hoping to get stands. “We don’t want to go back to tents from here, we are hoping the government to give us stands,” she said.
Sam Murenje weighed in saying they were being frustrated by staying in tents.
“Why do we continue to be moved, we are coming from tents, after this Cyclone we are going back to the tents again is this normal,” he said.
Manicaland provincial development coordinator and Civil Protection Unit chairperson Edgar Seenza said no significant destruction of property was recorded. He was concerned with pictures shown on the social media which alleged that bridges in Chimanimani have been swept away.
Seenza said the pictures of bridges being swept away are from the Cyclone Idai.
“There are some rains in Chimanimani, the country is now in the tropical convergence zone and we are expecting the rains to end around January 4. So far we have not recorded any destruction, if there is any destruction we will be alerted,” he said.
Chimanimani East Zanu PF Joshua Sacco said some people are not taking the issue of Cyclone Chalane seriously. “We have some people who are not taking the issue of Cyclone Chalane seriously and have refused to be evacuated. At the moment, we are monitoring the situation, we identified nearby boarding schools St Patricks and Mutambara where we are accommodating people,” he said.
Despite the schools having boarding facilities the villagers are being accommodated in classrooms where there were no beds.
