17 January 2008
Maputo — The Zambezi river in central Mozambique is beginning to fall in Tete province, but continues to rise along its lower reaches, according to the latest bulletin from the National Water Board (DNA).
At Tete city, where flood alert level is five metres, the river fell from six metres on Monday morning, to 5.65 metres on Tuesday, and to 5.53 metres on Wednesday. Downstream, at Mutarara, the district worst hit by flooding, the river fell slightly, from 6.47 metres on Tuesday to 6.45 on Wednesday.
But at Caia, on the lower Zambezi, the river's rise has been remorseless - from 7.48 metres on Monday, to 7.65 metres on Tuesday, and 7.75 metres on Wednesday. Here too flood alert level is five metres.
At Marromeu, the final measuring station before the river flows into the Indian Ocean, the trend is the same - the river rose from 6.86 metres on Monday, to 6.95 metres on Tuesday, and seven metres on Wednesday. (Flood alert level at Marromeu is 4.75 metres).
The upper Zambezi is clearly benefiting from the reduction in discharges from the Cahora Bassa dam. Over the past week the dam has reduced its discharges from 6,500 to 6,200 and then to 5,500 cubic metres a second. But it takes several days before a reduction in discharges at Cahora Bassa translates into a reduction in the level of the river at Caia and Marromeu.
Furthermore, the lower Zambezi is seriously affected by water from Malawi which pours down the Revobue and Shire rivers into the Zambezi Valley. The Revobue, which joins the Zambezi just east of Tete city, went into flood on Wednesday - it rose from 3.7 to 4.18 metres (18 centimetres above the local flood alert level).
Further south, the Pungue river has continued to rise. At the Mafambisse sugar plantation it rose from 7.55 metres to Monday to 7.58 metres on Wednesday. The flood on the Pungue has put parts of the Beira-Zimbabwe road under water, but vehicles are still driving through the inundated areas. The authorities have, for the time being, decided to keep the road open to traffic.
In the two other flooded valleys of central Mozambique, the Buzi and the Save rivers are falling. The Buzi is no longer in flood. Measured at Goonda, it fell from 4.17 metres on Monday to 3.54 metres on Wednesday.
There was a sharper drop in the level of the Save. Measured at Vila Franca do Save, on the boundary between Inhambane and Sofala provinces, it fell from 7.15 metres on Monday to 5.16 metres on Wednesday, well below flood alert level of 5.5 metres. This will offer some respite to the small towns of Nova Mambone and Machanga, near the mouth of the river, which have been flooded twice so far this year.
As for the Licungo river, in Zambezia province, heavy rains led to a sudden spike at the weekend. At the city of Mocuba, the river was measured at 6.75 metres on Monday but fell to 6.26 metres by Wednesday (the alert level at Mocuba is six metres), It thus seems unlikely that there will be a major flood on the Licungo in the near future.
One of the largest southern rivers, the Limpopo, also rose above alert level on its upper stretches. At Combomune, where the alert level is 4.5 metres, the river was measured at 5.64 metres on Monday, falling to 4.97 metres by Wednesday.
This is unlikely to cause flooding on the lower Limpopo - indeed at Xai-Xai, near the mouth of the river (where the alert level is 4.3 metres), the river is falling. It fell from two metres on Monday to 1.4 metres on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has deployed two cargo helicopters to the Zambezi valley, each with a capacity of two tones, to carry food aid to resettlement areas that cannot be reached by road.
Some of those evacuated from the flood-stricken areas have complained of hunger. According to a report in Thursday's issue of the Maputo daily "Noticias", when the governor of Zambezia, Carvalho Muaria, visited the Zona Verde resettlement centre, in Mopeia district, the flood victims told him they had not received any food for the past two weeks.
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