Maputo, Mozambique — Some 42,000 children in the central Mozambican provinces of Sofala and Tete are unable to attend classes because their schools have been flooded, the Maputo daily "Noticias" reported Tuesday.
The daily said in Sofala, the floods on the Zambezi and Pungue rivers have closed 50 schools in Chemba, Caia, Marromeu, Dondo, Nhamatanda and Buzi districts, depriving 17,000 children of their studies.
The situation is worse in Tete, where the floods on the Zambezi and its tributaries have completely destroyed 25 schools and inundated a further 50. Some 25,000 pupils and 370 teachers are affected in Tete, it added.
The Tete provincial director of education, Niniano Reino, said that Inhangoma in Mutarara district was the worst hit area. All the educational materials in Inhangoma will have to be replaced, since the waters have swept everything away.
"The school year is seriously compromised in the province," said Reino, "particularly in those districts where the situation is very critical".
On the Zambezi, the Cahora Bassa Dam is still releasing less water than the dam lake is receiving from Kariba and from the upstream tributaries.
On Monday, a day of torrential rain in the Cahora Bassa area, the lake received 9,737 cubic metres of water a second, but the dam was only discharging 6,607 cubic metres per second. The result is that the level of the dam is continuing to rise.
At 326 metres above sea level at the dam wall, the lake is at its theoretical maximum capacity. But on Monday the level was 326.63 metres. If it continues to rise, the Cahora Bassa management will have no option but to open more floodgates.
In Tete city, the largest urban centre on the banks of the Zambezi, some of the suburbs remain flooded, and the river rose again on Monday (from 6.64 to 6.74 metres).
However, further downstream there was some relief for flooded areas, as the river dropped from 6.31 to 6.24 metres at Mutarara, and from 7.95 to 7.89 metres at Caia. The river is still very high - flood alert level at Caia is five metres.
