Maputo, Mozambique — The number of people displaced by floods in the central Mozambican province of Zambezia was Tuesday reported three-fold up, numbering 69 000 as against 23,600 a fortnight back.
Mozambique News Agency (AIM) quoted Zembezia Governor Lucas Chomera as saying that while most attention has been focused on the Zambezi, several other rivers in the province, including the Licungo and the Boas Sinais, have also broken their banks.
Rescue and relief operations are underway in 11 districts in Zambezia affected by flooding. They include the provincial capital, Quelimane, Chinde, Mopeia and Morrumbala in the Zambezi valley, Inhassunge, Maganja da Costa, Nicoadala, Namacurra and Pebane along the coast, and Mocuba and Milange in the interior.
Currently the town of Luabo in Chinde district, on the north bank of the Zambezi, is causing great concern. Should the Zambezi rise much higher - which is inevitable if more floodgates on the Cahora Bassa dam are opened - Luabo would be completely flooded.
Zambezia is also currently sheltering about 3,500 Malawians, who fled across the border when their villages were flooded by the Shire river, the largest of the Zambezi's tributaries.
The Zambezia floods have also bred a crisis in education, with almost 68,000 primary school pupils unable to attend school, following the destruction of 544 classrooms.
In other sectors, a preliminary estimate on agricultural losses maintains that 23,000 hectares of crops (mostly maize and rice) have been ruined in Zambezia.
To enable farmers replant, at least 20,000 kits of seeds and hand tools would be required.
Chomera said the Ministry of Agriculture has guaranteed 350,000 dollars to acquire seeds and tools, but the province will require a further 250,000 dollars to cover all the needs.
Meanwhile the governor of Tete province, Tomas Mandlate, warned that residents of Magoe district were running out of food.
Magoe is upstream from the Cahora Bassa dam, and floods have cut off access roads to the district, shutting off supplies.
