The Sunday News
WHEN the rainy season started late last year, forecasts from weather experts were that the country was going to receive above normal rainfall.
The experts also dutifully warned of floods and other dangers associated with rainy weather in most parts of the country where specific time frames were given but there were doubting Thomases who dismissed the warnings as a fallacy that was not to be taken seriously.
But the weather experts were soon to be vindicated as incessant rains pounded most parts of the country in a fashion some have not seen and incidents of flooding and other mishaps started to take shape.
Suffice to say, the country this year received an unusually increased rainfall which was on Friday exacerbated by the arrival from Mozambique of Cyclone Dineo which has since shyly downgraded into a tropical depression.
The tropical depression worsened woes in some of the country’s communities that were already finding it difficult to cope with the high rainfall they were receiving from the time the rainy season started.
Warnings were given too on Cyclone Dineo but still it went with its fair share of destruction with flash floods in parts of the country’s provinces such as Masvingo, Manicaland, Matabeleland South and Bulawayo.
While the purpose of any warning in any situation is to prepare people so that they are not caught napping in circumstances that may cause harm to them, a lot of people were still caught up in rain-related incidents where a number of people have been left counting their losses.
The Meteorological Service Department (MSD) surely did a good job in providing weather updates while the Civil Protection Unit (CPU) was also on high alert issuing warnings reminding people to keep indoors, not to carry metal objects that are conductors of lightning and not to take cover under trees.
They also warned drivers not to park cars under trees but most importantly they strongly advised against crossing flooded rivers. They also warned those close to dams to keep alert in case dams give in to excessive inflows and burst their seams.
It is unfortunately painful, however, that despite the warnings some people including schoolchildren died in unforeseen and unpreventable rain-related incidents such as lightning.
While applauding MSD for the accurate weather information that came timeously, they could not protect some people from their mere arrogance and scepticism. Yes, some people have a mania of not listening to valuable instructions but that culture is not expected in people as educated as the wider population of Zimbabwe.
As a result lives were lost and a lot of property destroyed sometimes unnecessarily.
Poor judgment and in some cases stubbornly not taking heed to advice and warnings caused the losses.
But it is our strong call in furtherance of the information being disseminated on the dangers of crossing rivers in floods that people should take such warnings seriously.
We therefore take this opportunity to remind those who attempt to cross flooded rivers with cars, buses, scotch carts or even on foot as we have seen in various media that such antics are never a sign of macho, neither are they a show of courage but purely dicing with death.
It is our plea to the citizens of the country that we should allow rivers to subside to levels where the bridge is seen before crossing. Passengers should also not force drivers to cross bridges when rivers are in flood as this poses a serious danger to everyone on board.
Let us boldly state here and now that no one is worth dying when warnings are being issued every day on weather.
Precautionary measures should be taken to ensure no life is lost to rain incidents and the country’s CPU should continue being on high alert. We are aware of the challenges that the CPU is facing in mobilising resources but that should not be taken as a big excuse for failure to intervene timeously to distress calls. We need not remind the CPU that its mandate is overall co-ordination of all stakeholders involved in disaster risk management, promoting preparedness planning, prompt emergency response, early recovery and rehabilitation of affected elements among other expectations as defined by its charter.
We strongly believe the saying to be warned is to be forearmed means people with information about things that are capable of causing them harm should not just walk into the way of danger.
