Maputo — The number of deaths caused, directly or indirectly, by the tropical storms that have hit Mozambique over the past few days has risen to seven, according to a report in Thursday's issue of the daily paper "Noticias".
One of these deaths occurred during a shipwreck off the coast of Inhambane province, and the second resulted from an attack by crocodiles in Maganja da Costa district, in Zambezia province.
The Inhambane shipwreck took place when high winds surprised fishermen and slammed four of their small boats together. Two people are still missing as a result of this incident.
The northern province of Nampula remains the part of the country worst hit by the storms. On Wednesday, provincial governor Abdul Razak Noormahomed overflew the area of Larde, in Moma district, where 23,000 people have been displaced by flooding on the Meluli river. In the province as a whole, more than 3,000 hectares of crops have been swept away. Razak said that 350 schools, three health centres, five mosques, three christian chapels, and 100 informal trading stalls have been destroyed.
12 bridges have been swept away, cutting off access from Nampula city to the districts of Moma, Murrupula, Ribaue, Malema, Lalaua, Angoche, Memba and Mecuburi.
Brigades are working on repairing the main road south from Nampula, and traffic could be flowing again by Sunday. But it will take much longer - perhaps as much as a month - to repair the railway from the port of Nacala to Malawi.
Razak believes that the government's Disaster Management Coordinating Council should allocate a further billion meticais (42,000 US dollars), in addition to the 150 million meticais that was made available earlier this week, to be used in acquiring relief goods. Meanwhile, the tropical storm that was expected to come ashore, hitting Inhambane and Gaza provinces on Wednesday, instead changed direction, moving further out to sea. By Wednesday afternoon, the storm was said to be dissipating, but the National Meteorology Institute (INAM) advised all shipping, and all coastal communities to maintain a state of high alert.
