RSOE Emergency and Disaster Information Service

Situation Update No. 4

Posted:2010-03-03, 17:35:10 [UTC]

Ref.no.: FL-20100303-25189-MOZ

Situation Update No. 4
On 2010-03-11 at 04:21:47 [UTC]

Event: Flood
Location: Mozambique Province of Sofala Zambezi River areas

Number of Deads: 2 person(s)
Number of Evacuated: 130000 person(s)

Worsening floods in central Mozambique led the Mozambican government to declare a red alert on Tuesday in the basins of the Zambezi, Pungue, Buzi, and Licungo livers. The red alert, proposed by the Disasters Management Coordinating Council, comes as a response to sharp worsening of the situation in the central provinces, where there are currently 130,000 people living in flooded areas, or areas at risk of flooding. The heavy rainfall has caused at least two deaths. One of the victims was drowned while trying to cross the Pungue river, and the other was found with signs of having been attacked by crocodiles, but it is not clear whether he died before or after the attack. Addressing reporters shortly after the end of the Tuesday Cabinet meeting, the government spokesperson, Deputy Justice Minister Alberto Nkutumula, said that evacuation of those people has already started, and rescue and relief material, such as boats, tents and mosquito nets are already available.

He admitted that, despite large scale resettlement after the Zambezi floods of 2007 and 2008, some people had still returned to dangerous areas (doubtless because the places closest to the rivers are also the most fertile area). Nkutumula warned that if people did not leave dangerous areas voluntarily, they would be coercively resettled. The flood on the Pungue river, which inundated part of the Beira-Zimbabwe road, seems to have peaked. The river, measured at the Mafambisse sugar plantation, is still above flood alert level but is now dropping. Attentions have now switched to the Zambezi. Torrential rains have led to a rapid rise in the level of Cahora Bassa lake. The maximum elevation of the lake is 329 metres above sea level, and the current elevation is 324.42 metres, according to information released on Wednesday by the country's relief agency, the National Disasters Management Institute (INGC). This has forced the management of the Cahora Bassa dam to release more water through the floodgates. As of Wednesday morning, the dam was discharging 4,736 cubic metres a second. This compares with just 2,486 cubic metres a second a week ago. This is bound to worsen flooding on the lower Zambezi, in Chemba, Caia and Marromeu districts. On Tuesday, the Zambezia was 6.31 metres high at Caia, and 6.02 metres high at Marromeu. Flood alert level is five metres at Caia and 4.5 metres at Marromeu.

Despite all the warnings given in 2008, some people have even returning to live on islands in the Zambezi. There are, however, only a few people in this situation - the INGC has found 12 families on three islands and Chemba, and six families on two islands in Caia. By now, with the help of traditional authorities in the area, they should all have been evacuated. Further upstream, in Mutarara district, in Tete province, the INGC says that 2,800 people at risk in areas close to the Zambezi are being evacuated to resettlement areas. In Mopeia district, in Zambezia province, 1,200 people have been moved by local risk management committees to resettlement areas, and will be followed by a further 2,800 people still in dangerous areas. Further south, the flood on the Buzi has cut Buzi district off from the rest of the country. Buzi town can only be reached by boats from Beira.