For the residents of this mining town, the sound of the Mtshabezi River is usually a familiar, steady backdrop to daily life.
But in the “wee hours” of the March 22 Saturday morning, that sound turned into a roar that signalled the beginning of a catastrophe.
When the sun rose over Gwanda town, it revealed a landscape transformed by mud and debris.
Large patches of fresh silt covered the riverbanks, where uprooted trees lie scattered like matchsticks, discarded by a current that few here had ever seen before.
The floods have done more than just reshape the geography of the town; they have paralysed its infrastructure, cut off its lifelines, and left its people wondering how a predicted disaster was allowed to unfold.
By Monday, the Mtshabezi River was still overflowing its banks.
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At the main bridge linking Gwanda to Blanket Mine, Maphisa, and various surrounding areas, a tense queue of vehicles and pedestrians formed, taking turns to navigate the treacherous crossing.
The physical divide is mirrored by a social one, as the loss of two makeshift footbridges has effectively marooned parts of the population.
For the local workforce and students, the impact was immediate.
“What happened in Gwanda here on Saturday is unusual and it’s our first time to see this,” one resident remarked, standing near the water’s edge.
“We were affected, failed to go to work, I work at the mine and it was difficult to cross the bridge… Some of the children also failed to go to a nearby school, Mount Cazalet”.
The disruption to education and labour is only the surface of the crisis.
Beneath the receding waters lies a more systemic failure: the town’s water supply.
The municipal pumping station was completely inundated during the surge, damaging critical equipment and forcing an immediate shutdown of services.
Gwanda mayor Thulani Moyo recalled the harrowing moments when the water began to reclaim the land.
“When I arrived, the water level was already reaching the footbridge flyover,” Moyo said.
The situation was most dire for those living in the shadow of the water plant.
“Water was almost reaching window level for the houses near the water plant, but we managed to rescue the families and took them to the police for assistance,”Moyo said.
While the families are safe, the town’s taps remain dry. The machinery that sustains Gwanda is currently a liability.
“Unfortunately, we cannot switch on the pumps because they are submerged in water and the electric motors must first be checked and dried before they can operate again,” the mayor added.
In the interim, the Municipality of Gwanda has urged its citizens to rely on boreholes and to conserve every drop.
The warning is stern: untreated water must be boiled before use to prevent a secondary health crisis from emerging from the mud.
The scale of the destruction is perhaps most visible at Trigger Lodge, a local business that found itself directly in the path of the river’s fury when it burst its banks.
The scene there is one of ruined hospitality — damaged furniture, soaked carpets, and broken infrastructure.
“The water was so fast on that day and was unusual,” the lodge manager said, describing the frantic effort to save guests.
“So we had to relocate clients from these rooms and taking out what we could take on that time to a safer ground”.
The inventory of loss is extensive. The manager detailed the destruction of the boundary wall, lighting, the bar, and the conference room.
“The fridges, all the stock we had in the fridges was taken by the water, the chairs were damaged, the carpets, our banners for advertising,”he said.
“The ground here is full of stones as the water flooding carried a lot a lot of things”.
For the lodge, which remains only partially open, the recovery will be long and expensive.
“We are still assessing the damage to see if we can get help… It’s as good as we are starting afresh… I can say maybe plus US$15 000 total cost of damage,” the manager estimated.
As the district development co-ordinator, Nomathemba Ndlovu, and her team continue their assessments, the human and agricultural toll is becoming clearer.
While 34 people in rural areas were safely evacuated from being marooned, the Prisons farm lost its entire garden, a significant blow to local food security.
However, the question on many residents’ minds is not just what happened, but why.
Authorities have traced the flooding to the collapse of an 80-metre wall at the privately owned Insindi Dam, coupled with a breach at the Mtshabezi High School Dam.
Methusi Moyo, the secretary-general of the Gwanda Residents association, is among those demanding answers.
“It’s surprising since forecast was made on possibilities of flooding… one wonders why those responsible could not act in time to relieve the pressure on the dam than to act after it burst,” he said.
He noted that while the Civil Protection Unit (CPU) worked tirelessly in the aftermath, much of the property damage, especially to the lodges, “could have been avoided”.
Beyond the immediate structural failures, local officials are pointing to long-term environmental degradation as a contributing factor.
Awakhiwe Moyo, the Gwanda district disaster risk reduction focal person, warned that the dams are heavily silted due to illegal alluvial mining.
“We kindly ask the community to take note of these disasters which are caused by some of them which then affects everyone,” he urged.
For now, the focus remains on basic restoration.
The CPU is busy cutting fallen trees and clearing the Mtshabezi bridge of debris.
Fifty bags of cement and a supply of quarry are needed just to repair the eroded tar on the main road.
As the town of Gwanda begins the slow process of drying out its motors and clearing its streets, the “unusual” Saturday flood serves as a stark reminder of the community’s vulnerability to both the elements and the infrastructure meant to contain them.
For many, like the manager at Trigger Lodge, the work of “starting afresh” is just beginning.