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Mozambique: Flood alerts issued for Zambeze and Incomáti rivers – Noticias
4:25 CAT | 28 Jan 2021
File photo: Noticias
Flood warnings are in place for the Zambezi River watercourse in Tete, Manica, Sofala and Zambézia provinces, the Ministry of Public Works, Water Resources and Housing has announced, and likewise for the Incomáti river basin in Maputo province.
Along the Zambezi, floods may result from discharges in progress since yesterday at the Cahora Bassa dam as a result of above-average rainfall upstream.
Yesterday, head of the Department of Watershed Management, Agostinho Vilanculos, told Radio Mozambique that the volume of water discharged from the Cahora Bassa reservoir would increase significantly, from the current 1,740 to about 3,000 cubic meters per second.
Dôa and Mutarara districts in Tete province would be directly affected, he said, as will Tambara, in Manica province; Chemba, Caia and Marromeu, in Sofala; and Mopeia and Chinde, in the province of Zambézia. The discharges, Vilanculos said, aimed to ensure the operational and hydraulic integrity of the dam.
“The Cahora Bassa Dam will carry out discharges in the order of three thousand cubic meters per second. It is a situation worth calling attention to for resident communities to observe precautionary measures,” he said.
Vilanculos explained that the current water level is quite high, making it necessary to create additional capacity, since it is not yet known what will actually happen from now to the end of the rainy season.
Meanwhile, in Maputo province, the Incomáti River has already reached alert levels, leading Vilanculos to reinforce calls to communities living in the river basin to take precautionary measures.
The Incomáti recorded 0.30 metres above the alert level at Ressano Garcia.
“This wave (of water) is still on the move, and we foresee it reaching Magude today (yesterday) and, in two days, (tomorrow) Manhiça. We call to attention, above all, residents of Josina Machel Island and of low-lying areas of Xinavane,” Vilanculos said.
The Department of Watershed Management, in the National Directorate of Water Resources Management, says in a statement that it continues to monitor river basins in the centre of the country, where the Púngoè in Mafambisse is showing a tendency to fall (while maintaining its associated alert), and in Macuiana, where levels are still rising, though without flooding.
In the south, the basins of the Maputo river in Madubula and Fronteira Oeste, and the Limpopo river in Combomune and Sicacate, are still rising, threatening to flood low-lying areas of Chókwè city and in Vila do Guijá, in Gaza province, due to upstream runoff.
The Umbelúzi basin, in Maputo province, after exceeding the alert level by 0.9 meters, registering a peak of 4.4 metres on Tuesday, is returning to normal.
The increased flow has filled the Pequenos Libombos Dam to 28.99 percent of its capacity, against only 16.80% on Saturday, a relief for the water supply system in the Greater Maputo area, which was facing a crisis due to the paucity of rainfall.
Source: Noticias
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