Storm destroys homes in Beira, Mozambique

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Storm destroys homes in Beira, Mozambique

7:57 CAT | 11 Apr 2016

TVE 24 / Mayor of Beira Daviz Simango during a visit to the affected areas

A major storm has destroyed or damaged 500 houses in the central Mozambican city of Beira on Thursday and Friday.

The storm coincided with high tides and the sea smashed across coastal defences swamping the neighbourhood of Praia Nova. 380 people were driven from the worst hit houses and had to seek shelter in safer places.

Some of the storm victims were provisionally housed in a school and a sports stadium before the government relief agency, the National Disasters Management Institute (INGC), provided 20 large tents, plus food and hygiene materials for three days.

According to the INGC Beira delegate, Bento Joao, cited in Saturday’s issue of the Maputo daily “Noticias”, the storm also hit the Nhangau administrative post, 30 kilometres north of Beira. He did not yet have figures on the number of people affected there.

The National Meteorology Institute (INAM) said that the situation resulted from exceptionally high tides accompanied by a cold front bringing stormy weather to the Beira area. The winds which hit the city reached speeds of 70 kilometres an hour, causing heavy seas in the Mozambique Channel, with waves over seven metres high on Friday morning.

The INAM central regional delegate, Julio Langa, said that, although weak to moderate rains might continue throughout the weekend, in the interior of Sofala and Manica provinces and the coastal strip of Zambezia, no further high winds are expected.

The secretary of the Praia Nova neighbourhood, Carussua Fondo, confirmed that Beira Municipal Council had given land use titles (DUATs) authorizing people living in dangerous areas of Praia Nova to build homes in safer zones. But some of the beneficiaries of these DUATs had returned to the risky parts of Praia Nova to live by the shore line and to fish there.

Source: AIM