4 December 2007
Maputo — The inhabitants of the flooded town of Nova Mambone, in the southern Mozambican province of Inhambane, are bracing for further misery, as another flood wave down the Save river seems inevitable.
The Save marks the conventional boundary between southern and central Mozambique. This week the two small towns near its mouth - Nova Mambone and Machanga on the opposite bank - were severely flooded. Boats were used to rescue hundreds of people and take them to higher ground.
On Thursday, the river dropped sufficiently to allow vehicles to enter Nova Mambone along the road that links the town to the main north-south highway. However, continued heavy rains in Zimbabwe make it virtually certain that a new flood wave will sweep down the river.
According to district administrator Dali Cumanda, cited in Friday's issue of the Maputo daily "Noticias", rescue operations are continuing throughout Nova Mambone, and two accommodation centres have been set up for the flood victims. About 1,000 displaced people are currently in need of foodstuffs, clothing and other relief goods.
"We don't know what will happen if the situation gets any worse", said Cumanda.. "Right now, everything has stopped in the district, from government institutions to commercial establishments".
Further north, there has been some improvement in the Buzi valley. A fall in the level of the river allowed the resumption on Thursday of traffic between the locality of Guara-Guara and Buzi town, but only for four wheel drive vehicles.
Both the Pungue and the Zambezi rivers are continuing to rise. On Thursday the pressure of water from Zambia and Zimbabwe entering the lake behind the Cahora Bassa dam forced the dam management to increase discharges into the Zambezi from 4,500 to 5,100 cubic metres a second, which is likely to worsen the current flooding on the lower Zambezi.
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