Relief efforts are underway across Zimbabwe after heavy rains triggered severe flooding, killing at least 83 people and destroying more than 1,300 homes, government and humanitarian agencies said on Thursday.
Torrential rains this month have caused flooding in all ten provinces, with Manicaland near the Mozambique border the hardest hit. Bridges and roads have been washed out, complicating access to affected communities.
In an interview with China Global Television Network, Nathan Nkomo, chief director of the Department of Civil Protection, said, "[For] the artisanal miners, they had their mining holes along the waterways and they were filled. It's like most of them were buried in those. Some [of the toll] is a result of lightning. Lighting has also got a big toll on that figure."
Authorities added that several others drowned while attempting to cross flooded rivers.
The Zimbabwe Red Cross Society, in coordination with the Department of Civil Protection, is leading emergency response efforts. Relief teams are delivering tents, tarpaulins, blankets, hygiene kits and medical supplies to displaced families.
Mathias Begede, programs director of the Zimbabwe Red Cross Society, said, "We have placed our response teams on high alert and are also repositioning emergency supplies such as tents, tarpaulins, blankets and hygiene kits and also first aid materials across the country."
Local community networks are being mobilized to disseminate weather forecasts and warn residents against crossing swollen rivers.
Although water levels have begun to recede in some of the hardest-hit areas, authorities remain on high alert as the meteorological services department forecasts further rainfall in the coming days. Relief teams continue to monitor dam water levels and rainfall patterns to issue early warnings and evacuation advisories.
Zimbabwe intensifies relief operations as floods kill over 80, destroy homes
At least 15 people were killed in a series of Israeli airstrikes in southern Lebanon on Saturday, according to Lebanese official sources.
At least one child was among those killed and several children were among those injured in the strikes, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry and the National News Agency.
The Israeli army on Saturday morning ordered residents of southern Lebanese towns to evacuate before conducting airstrikes and demolishing homes.
Israeli attacks and airstrikes in Lebanon since March 2 had killed 2,795 people and injured 8,586 others, according to the latest data released by the Emergency Operations Center of Lebanon's Ministry of Public Health on Saturday.
Meanwhile, Hezbollah said it launched a rocket barrage overnight targeting a gathering of Israeli military vehicles and soldiers along the Lebanon-Israel border, in response to Israeli violations of the ceasefire.
Hezbollah lawmaker Hassan Fadlallah said the group was in a "defensive position" against Israeli "aggression" and warned that Israel should expect a response whenever it targets Lebanese villages or Beirut's southern suburbs. An Israeli soldier was seriously injured, and two others moderately injured in Israeli territory near the Lebanese border by an explosive drone launched by Hezbollah on Saturday, according to a statement issued by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).
The soldiers were rushed to a hospital, the statement said, adding that additional explosive drones launched by Hezbollah fell in Israeli territory near the border, without causing any casualties.
Another explosive drone hit an unmanned IDF engineering vehicle in southern Lebanon, with no casualties reported, the IDF said, adding that its air force intercepted several projectiles launched by Hezbollah toward Israeli soldiers operating in southern Lebanon.
The exchanges of fire came despite a ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon that took effect last month following weeks of cross-border fighting tied to broader regional tensions triggered by the U.S.-Israeli attacks on Iran.
15 killed in Israeli strikes in S. Lebanon
