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Folha de Maputo
The flood on the Save river, marking the boundary between the Mozambican provinces of Inhambane and Sofala has worsened, with large areas inundated on both banks of the river.
The river flooded parts of the town of Nova Mambone on the southern, Inhambane bank on Thursday. The Save continued to rise, and on Friday the river swamped much of the Sofala town of Machanga.
The river fell somewhat on Saturday, but further rain upstream ensured a new flood surge on Sunday. About 15,000 people living in Machanga and the sourrounding area have been affected, and around 500 houses were destroyed.
The Machanga district administrator, Tome Jose, cited by Radio Mozambique, said that all state institutions in the town are now under water. That includes the district administration offices, the education and agriculture directorates, and the district hospital. Patients who were undergoing treatment in the hospital were moved by three helicopters to higher ground.
16 schools in the district are also flooded, which means that over 6,000 pupils will be unable to attend classes on Monday, which is the first day of the 2017 school year.
In addition to the helicopters, a motor boat and several canoes are moving Machanga residents to safe areas.
The administrator said that 1,000 hectares of crops in the district have been inundated and are regarded as lost. A further 400 hectares are at risk.
In the town and in the surrounding localities 43,000 people are directly and indirectly affected by the flooding, which is 75 per cent of the entire Machanga district population, Tome Jose said. Of these, 18,000 need to be moved to safe areas. By Sunday morning 215 people had been rescued.
Two bridges on the road that links Machanga town to the country’s main north-south highway (EN1) have been swept away by the flood waters. The administrative post of Divinhe, Javane locality and several remote villages are now completely isolated.
Sofala provincial governor Helena Taipo overflew Machanga by helicopter, and stopped in several localities to urge the local population to follow instructions given by the Mozambican relief agency, the National Disasters Management Institute (INGC).
Despite the danger, some people are insisting on staying in areas at risk. Cited in Monday’s issue of the independent daily “O Pais”, Taipo said she had spoken to some of those reluctant to move and she thought they would now agree to go to higher ground, and it would not be necessary to move them by force.
The INGC has also used helicopters to drop food aid to people in Nova Mambone who have been isolated by the floods.
Joao Machatine, the general director of the INGC, guaranteed that the institution is working to avoid any loss of human life. He said that, despite initial resistance, the flood victims are now moving into the accommodation centres set up by the INGC. The INGC estimates that around 6,000 people in Nova Mambone have been affected by the floods.
Further north, in the Sofala district of Dondo, the Pungue river has continued to rise isolating villages where about 5,000 people are living. The Pungue has also inundated a health centre and four schools.
The Sofala provincial government has reactivated all 15 local Disaster Risk Management Committees, Seven of these are equipped with resources such as boats which can rescue people who find themselves trapped in the Pungoe Valley.
On Friday, Deputy Transport Minister Manuela Rebelo visited the Limpopo railway line, which runs from Maputo to Zimbabwe, to assess the damage done by the torrential rain that fell on Maputo and Matola cities on 16 January.
The circulation of trains was halted for 24 hours, but the port and rail company CFM was able to patch up the damage, and rail traffic was running again within a day.
“Clearly this was a provisional solution”, Rebelo said, cited in Monday’s issue of the independent newssheet “Mediafax”. She added that CFM “is working to find a definitive solution as quickly as possible”.
The rains caused mudslides at four points along the line, one on the premises of Maputo port, one in the Infulene area, a few kilometers from the port, and two in Manhica district, about 80 kilometres from the capital. In the port, the rains swept away a wall and large quantities of mud were driven onto the railway.
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