Maputo — The fishing port of Angoche, in the northern Mozambican province of Nampula, has effectively been cut off from the rest of the country by the torrential rains and flooding brought by tropical depression "Delfina" when it struck the province earlier this month.
According to a report in Thursday's issue of the independent newsheet "Mediafax", traffic between the provincial capital, Nampula city, and Angoche has been interrupted, because the bridge over the Mutomodi river is under water. Vehicles are queuing up on both banks of the river, waiting for the waters to subside. On Wednesday afternoon, "Mediafax" counted a queue of 15 vehicles on the Nampula side and 13 on the Angoche side.
The other road out of Angoche leads to a second small port, Moma, further south. But that road cannot be used, because a bridge over the Ceta river has collapsed. The alternative mode of transport is by boat.
The Nampula provincial government has made 390 million meticais (about 16,400 US dollars) available for immediate emergency assistance to Angoche. The district administrator, Isaac Braca, told "Mediafax" that the money has been spent on foodstuffs, that will be taken to Angoche in boats belonging to the company "Pesca Norte".
Braca called for more assistance from the central government, saying that the Angoche district authorities are quite unable, on their own, to deal with the disaster.
The power lines are down, and so there is no electricity in Angoche. This has serious implications for the fishing industry, which has been unable to refrigerate its catches. Large amounts of shellfish, particularly prawns, the main export from Angoche, have rotted.
Fishing boats now set out to sea only to catch what can be immediately consumed. One small fishing boat, caught in a storm on Monday, capsized and the four fishermen who were on board are missing. Meanwhile the Ministry of Education has extended the time limit for school enrolment in Nampula and the neighbouring province of Zambezia. Enrolment was supposed to have finished throughout the country on Wednesday, since lessons are scheduled to start next Monday.
But parents are being given a few more days to enrol their children in Nampula and Zambezia. The Nampula provincial education director, Mario Viegas, told the Maputo daily "Noticias", that, even though some schools, damaged by the storms, might not be able to open on Monday, "We are committed, even in those cases, to ensure that classes begin before the end of the month".
