30 December 2008
Maputo — Traffic resumed on Monday morning along the stretch of Mozambique's main north-south highway through Inhambane province that had been damaged by torrential rains on Saturday,
The rains had washed away the supports for a small bridge over the Chiotive river at Mahoche, on the boundary between Morrumbene and Massinga districts. Hundreds of vehicles found themselves stranded on either side of the break in the main road.
The Minister of Public Works, Felicio Zacarias, personally supervised the emergency repairs to the bridge, and as from about 08.00 on Monday morning the stranded vehicles were able to continue their journeys.
These repairs only enabled one lane of the damaged stretch to be used, but the National Roads Administration (ANE) says that by Thursday the second lane should also be passable.
There was no proper drainage system on this stretch of the highway. Zacarias admitted that the contractor who recently rehabilitated the road could not be blamed, since the contract did not include a drainage system or replacing the bridge supports. The Minister added that in future contracts for major road works would have to be standardized throughout the country.
Cited in the independent daily "O Pais", Zacarias warned that further heavy rains could make other stretches of the highway impassable, notably the stretch between the Save river and Muchungue, in Sofala province.
There is already flooding in parts of Sofala. In the centre of the province, the Pungue river has burst its banks and inundated hundreds of hectares of peasant crops.
The Buzi river, south of Beira, has risen rapidly, interrupting ferry services across the river. According to the Buzi district administrator, Sergio Moiane, cited in Tuesday's issue of the Maputo daily "Noticias", the rapidly flowing river on Saturday broke the cables that support the ferry, and it will take some time to repair the damage.
As a result parts of the district, such as Nova Sofala, Estaquinha, Ampara and Bandua, are completely cut off from Beira.
The Beira-Zimbabwe road is still passable but the heavy rains have made it dangerous, and at least one truck skidded, and fell on its side on this highway on Sunday afternoon.
In the neighbouring province of Manica, the rains have caused the death of at least three people, according to a report on Radio Mozambique. Two of the dead are children, while a third was a worker at the National Social Welfare Institute (INAS) who was swept away while trying to cross the Muchacuar river, in Mossurize district. He met his death while trying to pay food subsidies to elderly people in Mossurize.
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