19 February 2008
Maputo — The Cahora Bassa dam has reduced its discharges into the Zambezi river from 3,322 cubic metres a second on Saturday to 3,046 cubic metres a second on Sunday, according to the latest statistics from Mozambique's National Water Board (DNA).
More water is entering the dam lake than leaving it, and so the lake is gradually filling. As of Sunday it was 69.3 per cent full - which still leaves space to accommodate any sudden increase in the flow from Zambia and Zimbabwe into the lake (as would happen, for instance, if the Kariba dam opened more of its floodgates).
From Cahora Bassa to the coast, the Zambezi is now dropping. At Tete city, the river fell from 4.25 metres on Sunday to 4.04 metres on Monday, and so it is now almost a metre below the flood alert level. Further downstream the river is still above the alert level but continues to fall - at Mutarara, from 5.22 to 5.1 metres and at Caia from 6.47 to 6.38 metres.
The other major rivers of central Mozambique - the Buzi, the Pungoe, the Save and the Licungo are also all dropping, although at Mafambisse, west of Beira, the Pungoe is still in flood, and stands over a metre above the alert level.
Tropical cyclone Ivan no longer poses a threat to Mozambique. According to the US Navy's Joint Typhoon Warning Centre, the cyclone has dissipated over Madagascar, and had become a "disorganized system". Wind speeds were down to 45 kilometres an hour, and the storm was moving south west of the Madagascar capital, Antananarivo, at about 11 kilometres an hour.
Nonetheless the remnants of the cyclone will be monitored to see if any storm system reforms once they hit the Mozambique Channel.
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