Limpopo valley communities urged to move to higher ground as flood surge moves down the river – Mozambique

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Limpopo valley communities urged to move to higher ground as flood surge moves down the river – Mozambique

7:17 CAT | 04 Feb 2017

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The Gaza provincial government in southern Mozambique is urging communities living near the banks of the Limpopo river to move to higher ground, as a flood surge moves down the river.

The Limpopo has burst its banks on its upper reaches. At Combumune on Friday morning the river was measured at 3.1 metres above flood alert level. Large areas of cultivated land have been inundated, and so the authorities are urging communities to move out of harm’s way.

Cited by Radio Mozambique on Saturday, the provincial governor, Stella Pinto, urged people living near the Limpopo to move their livestock and other property, so that they will not be swept away by the approaching flood surge.

The Gaza provincial delegate of the country’s relief agency, the National Disaster Management Institute (INGC), Manuel Machaeie, told AIM that the height of the river at Combumune peaked at 8.15 metres on Friday, but by Saturday morning had fallen to 8.07 metres (which is still well over three metres above the alert level, of 4.5 metres).

Machaie expected that, when the surge reaches Chokwe, at the heart of Limpopo Valley irrigated agriculture, the river will rise to between six and 7.5 metres high. Although this is well above the alert level of five metres, he did not believe that Chokwe city was in any serious danger.

He added that the communities at Lhezene, Chalucuane and Chiduacine have begun to evacuate their livestock, protecting their animals from the approaching flood. This evacuation, he added, was entirely voluntary, following the warning messages that the INGC and other bodies have transmitted to the communities.

Source: AIM