Nyusi visits flood victims in Tete

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Nyusi visits flood victims in Tete

10:40 CAT | 22 Mar 2019

Photo: Presidente Filipe Nyusi / Facebook

Mozambican President Filipe Nyusi on Wednesday expressed the government’s solidarity with the victims of flooding in the western province of Tete.

He was speaking to families affected by the floods that hit the northern part of Tete city when the Revobue river, one of the main tributaries of the Zambezi, burst its banks.

“I’m in Tete to see how you are living after being displaced from your homes due to the flooding on the Revobue, which surprised us because it’s been a long time since there was anything similar on this river”, said Nyusi.

The flooding on the Revobue took place about a week before cyclone Idai swept in from the Mozambique Channel and devastated the central provinces.

Speaking to flood victims at an accommodation centre set up in the Matundo Industrial School, Nyusi said “the most critical situation is in Sofala province, where there are still people clinging onto trees, without food and without water”.

The destruction in Beira had been dramatic, he said. “The city is destroyed. It’s a very worrying situation”, Nyusi continued. “There’s no electricity. Reconnecting it will cost, because there are still cables in the water, and if we turn on the elecricity, that could cause another drama. But we are working so that life returns to normal”.

Mozambique, said the President, is continuing to receive support from its partners and from citizens of good will who want to assist the victims. Helicopters and boats are rescuing people surrounded by flood waters, taking them to safety from trees and from roof tops. “We are doing everything to save human lives”, declared the President.

Nyusi visited the bridge over the Revobue, which has been severely damaged and is currently impassable. He also overflew areas affected by flooding in the lower Zambezi valley, including Doa and Mutarara districts in Tete and Tambara in Manica.

“We are urging everyone to continue taking precautionary measures”, Nyusi told the crowd, “because the rainy season is not yet over”. He warned that large amounts of water from Zimbabwe are now pouring into the Zambezi.

Tete residents should remain on a state of alert, he said, following the development of the situation, and always ready to take action to save lives”.

Tete governor Paulo Auade said the disasters had affected 1,367 households, obliging the provincial government to set up five accommodation centres.

“We have already identified a place for the definitive resettlement of the people who have lost their homes on Tete city, and there is another site for provisional resettlement”, said the governor. “Earth clearing machines are there to allow the construction of houses”.

The provisional budget for this resettlement is 197 million meticais (about 3.2 million US dollars, at current exchange rates).

Source: AIM