Girls, 8 and 10, marooned for three days by floods in Zimbabwe

Jan 3, 2008, 11:18 GMT

Harare/Maputo - Police in north-west Zimbabwe were trying to rescue two young girls marooned on an island since Monday as floods that have killed dozens of people so far wrought havoc in low-lying areas of the country, reports said Thursday.

The police had still not rescued the youngsters, aged between 8 and 10 by late 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, when they went to harvest vegetables from a riverside garden, according to the report.

Floods in the north and south of the country have 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.

Critical food shortages caused by political mismanagement and drought that have left around 4 million in need of food aid have 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 has donated blankets and jerry cans to some of the affected, while the International Organisation for Migration has distributed tents and drinking water.

The situation in Zimbabwe is having a knock-on effect in neighbouring Mozambique, itself prone to devastating floods during its summer rainy season.

Over 1,000 families in central Manica province bordering Zimbabwe have been stranded after roads and bridges were washed away and rivers that arrive from Zimbabwe en route to the Indian Ocean were said to be dangerously swollen.