-death toll rises to 4 as more bodies found downstream
MIDWEEK EDITOR
CHIPINGE-AS THE incessant rains continue to pound the country, a four year old child has been swept by flash floods while an eight year old is missing.
The two were doing laundry with an adult woman who survived by clinging to a tree branch in the swollen river after a dam burst upstream.
The sad incident happened last Sunday at around 1pm when Dondone Dam with a capacity of 80megalitres raptured a 20m section of its wall due to excessive rains.
Agnes Muchadeyi (4) from Lot 3 Newcastle under Chief Mutema in Chipinge was swept away as she was doing laundry downstream in the middle of the river with Perseverance Sithole (26) who survived by clinging to a tree and Grace Mlambo (8) who is still missing.
Agnes’s body was found floating 3km from the place they were doing laundry by her father Tinashe Muchadeyi (28).
Her body was taken to Chipinge Hospital for postmortem.
Meanwhile, a bridge which is 14,5km from the dam wall in the Lower Eastern Border Road in Manyaya Village under Chief Mutema was swept away by the flash floods cutting off communication in the area.
On the same day a fisherman, Tawanda Shanguro whose age was not given was trapped in the silt on Budzi River, a tributary of Dondone River and was rescued by his mother Marita Muyambo (34) of Woodbine Farm in Chief Mutema’s area.
Manicaland Province acting police spokesperson Assistant Inspector Wiseman Chinyoka urged villagers not to do laundry in rivers as the rain season is still upon us and floods are very common.
