Zimbabwe: Not prepared for floods amid conflicting weather forecasts

Conflicting weather reports have exposed the country’s lack of preparedness for possible floods, reports Ignatius Banda for IPS. Despite earlier warnings that floods were headed for some parts of Zimbabwe, hundreds of schools and villages were washed away amid conflicting reports of when to expect water to reach its peak. "We were never told that the water would be that bad. We lost livestock and the grain we had harvested," a villager in lowveld area of Zimbabwe said, highlighting the poor early warning and disaster monitoring systems in Zimbabwe.

"People here have always lived with floods and it is something which the authorities think is natural and they cannot do anything about saving lives, grain and livestock," Jairos Lubimbi, a local councillor, told IPS, adding that not much is being done to prepare villagers in the eventuality of floods.