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Mozambique: SADC Mission Inspects Flood Stricken Areas
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Agencia de Informacao de Mocambique (Maputo)
24 January 2008
Posted to the web 24 January 2008
Maputo
The Executive Secretary of the Southern African Development Community (SADC), Tomaz Salomao, on Wednesday called for an improved early warning system among countries who share river basins, in order to mitigate the impact of flooding.
Salomao is leading a SADC mission to Mozambique to see at first hand the damage caused by flooding on the Zambezi, Pungue, Buzi and Save rivers. The mission will also visit other SADC countries that have suffered from torrential rains - Malawi, Zambia, Zimbabwe, and Angola.
Cited in Thursday's issue of the Maputo daily "Noticias", Salomao called for improved transmission of data between the Kariba and Cahora Bassa dams on the Zambezi, and for better flood warning systems in the other basins.
Exchanges of information between upstream and downstream countries was key for joint action under the SADC protocol on shared watercourses, he stressed.
Salomao, who is a former Mozambican transport minister, stressed that when SADC countries plan their development, they must always bear in mind mechanisms for mitigating the effects of natural disasters. He added that the SADC Council of Ministers will shortly draw up a directive on this matter to be submitted to the next heads of state summit.
Meanwhile, since the rains have slackened, the flood waters are subsiding across central Mozambique. On the Zambezi, according to the latest bulletin from the National Water Board (DNA), the river rose sharply at Tete city on Tuesday, reaching 5.26 metres, but on Wednesday fell back to 4.85 metres, 15 centimetres below flood alert level.
Further downstream, at Mutarara, the river subsided to 5.83 metres, while at Caia, the river fell from 7.5 to 7.37 metres between Tuesday and Wednesday. (At both Mutarara and Caia, alert level is five metres). At Marromeu, the last measuring station before the delta, the river remained steady at 7.07 metres.
The Cahora Bassa dam has slightly increased its discharges into the Zambezi from 4,800 to 4,900 cubic metres a second.
Comparative data with earlier floods show that this year's flood is larger than last year's, but has not reached the scale of the 2001 flood. Thus at Caia the river rose to 8.14 metres in 2001, but its highest point this year has been 7.82 metres.
Similarly with Mutarara. This year's high point of 6.47 metres is still 15 centimetres below the 6.62.metres reached in 2001. At Marromeu, the river has not risen above 7.08 metres this year, but in 2001 it reached 7.68.
As for the Pungue river, measured at Mafambisse it dropped from 7.38 to 7.15 metres between Monday and Wednesday. This is still 1.15 metres above the alert level.
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By Wednesday the Buzi, at Goonda, had fallen to 5.1 metres, only marginally above the local alert level of five metres, while the Save, measured at Vila Franca do Save, fell from 3.94 metres on Monday to 4.25 on Wednesday, comfortably below the alert level of 5.5 metres.
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| Copyright © 2008 Agencia de Informacao de Mocambique. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections -- or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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