Inhambane: Rising sea waters destroy houses on Barra beach

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Inhambane: Rising sea waters destroy houses on Barra beach

12:40 CAT | 26 Nov 2020

Photo: O Pais

The old dream of having a house on the beach has started to crumble in Inhambane, where rising sea levels have this year wreaked destruction for all to see.

‘O País’ found several holiday homes destroyed on Barra beach, with high tides bringing down the walls of residences belonging to both private individuals and tourist resorts.

According to local residents, this happens every year, but this time it was worse than expected.

To get a sense of the severity of the damage, residents said that the water’s edge, usually more than 80 metres away from the houses, was upon them in the blink of an eye. The water overran everything, washing the sandy soil away from the foundations until they could resist no more and collapsed.

‘O País’ saw desperate homeowners with shovels trying to shore up defences with sand bags, but to no avail, the waters proving stronger than any attempted barricade.

Environmentalist António Cabral explained that the rise in sea level was quite predictable, since, in addition to the equinoctial tides, the winds from the north from October on were particularly strong in Inhambane.

These winds have great influence on the sea, so the waters can be expected to rise further up the beach than usual.

António Cabral points out that the most important thing is that people learn how to live with nature, ruing the fact that the high tide line was not taken into consideration when building houses and other infrastructure.

In the recent past, Tofo beach has also suffered particularly high tides, forcing the authorities to build a sea wall.

By Hugo Firmino

Source: O País