Maputo — Torrential rains have swollen rivers and cut roads in the northern Mozambican province of Cabo Delgado.
According to a Friday report on Radio Mozambique, a bridge on the road between Macomia and the provincial capital, Pemba, collapsed and three vehicles plunged into the waters of the rover Muaguide.
The National Water Board (DNA) has issued a flood alert for three Cabo Delgado rivers, the Muaguide, the Montepuez and the Messalo, as well as for the Ligonha, the river that forms the boundary between Nampula and Zambezia provinces.
Flood alerts are still in force for four other northern rivers, the Monapo and Meluli in Nampula, the Licungo in Zambezia and the Revubue in Tete.
The DNA warns that the weather forecast for northern Mozambique in the next few days is more rain. The fact that the soil is already saturated, plus the already high level of the rivers, could easily lead to flooding.
The DNA urges the local authorities to remain on full alert, and that people should move away from areas liable to flooding.
Meanwhile, the Nampula provincial government estimates that it needs 44 billion meticais (about 1.85 million US dollars) to cope with the emergency created by tropical depression "Delfina", which hit the province earlier this month.
The provincial government estimate, presented on Wednesday to a meeting with NGOs and other cooperation partners operating in the province, covers emergency food aid, health care, and repairs to damaged roads, schools and other infrastructure.
The government puts the number of people currently in an emergency situation at 105,000.
The central government allocated immediately a billion meticais to Nampula, of which 680 million were channelled to the worst-hit districts - Angoche, Moma, Mogincual and Mogovolas.
The damage to the roads means that transport throughout the province remains difficult. Nonetheless, according to a report in the Maputo daily "Noticias", two military trucks will try to carry 11 tonnes of goods - particularly chemicals for purifying water supplies - from Nampula city to Angoche, Mogincual and Moma.
Meanwhile, the railway from the port of Nacala to Malawi remains closed, and the estimate made on Thursday was that it could still take three weeks to repair the track. According to Nampula provincial governor Abdul Razak Noormahomed, the Mozambican rail and port company, CFM, is losing 100,000 US dollars every day the line is closed.
The Nacala railway is Malawi's shortest and cheapest route to the sea, and much of the food aid for the victims of drought- induced hunger in Malawi was supposed to travel along this line.
The damage to the line, however, means that currently about 6,000 tonnes of maize intended for Malawi is held up in Nacala.
