Two Zim girls trapped on island
2008-01-03 13:46
Harare - Police in north-west Zimbabwe were trying to rescue two young girls marooned on an island since Monday as floods that had killed dozens of people so far wrought havoc in low-lying areas of the country, say reports.
The police had still not rescued the youngsters, aged between 8 and 10 by late on Wednesday, according to the official Herald newspaper.
The girls were trapped by rising floodwaters on an island in the Sanyati-Tengwe area, in Mashonaland West province, after they went to harvest vegetables from a riverside garden, according to the report.
Floods in the north and south of the country had killed at least 27 people and left hundreds of families in urgent need of food aid following the heaviest rains in December for more than 100 years.
1 000 families stranded
Critical food shortages caused by political mismanagement and drought that had left about four million in need of food aid had been exacerbated as floodwaters swept away crops and livestock.
As the rain brought down power lines contact was severed to some of the worst-affected areas in eastern Manicaland province.
The Red Cross had donated blankets and jerry cans to some of the affected, while the International Organisation for Migration had distributed tents and drinking water.
The situation in Zimbabwe was having a knock-on effect in neighbouring Mozambique, itself prone to devastating floods during its summer rainy season.
More than 1 000 families in central Manica province bordering Zimbabwe had been stranded after roads and bridges were washed away and rivers that arrived from Zimbabwe en route to the Indian Ocean were said to be dangerously swollen.
Sapa-dpa
- SAPA