Mozambique: 600,000 at risk from cyclone Eloise – Noticias

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Mozambique: 600,000 at risk from cyclone Eloise – Noticias

2:55 CAT | 21 Jan 2021

Photo: Noticias

Mozambique’s National Institute for Disaster Management and Risk Reduction (INGD) estimates that 600,000 persons may be affected, directly or indirectly, by tropical cyclone Eloise, in its passage through Sofala, Inhambane and Gaza provinces this weekend.

The INGD technical council, following a meeting in Maputo, is today dispatching multi-sectoral teams to at-risk areas, to strengthening ongoing work and pre-position emergency supplies.

INGD spokesman António Beleza told reporters at the end of the Maputo meeting that response plans were being prepared based on the expected impact of the storm reaching the Mozambique Channel today. One of the teams’ main tasks is to work with local authorities to persuade residents to withdraw from at-risk areas.

“We have already positioned assets in strategic locations considered, and can reposition them depending on updates. We are also going to assess access routes which could be affected, so that we do not have problems when it comes to responding,” he said.

Agostinho Vilanculos, from the National Directorate for Water Resources Management, said that the passage of the tropical cyclone would put six river basins at risk of flooding.

Of these, three are in Inhambane province: the Mutamba, Nhanombe and Govuro rivers, although the latter does not present high risk, as it does not have many homes in the vicinity.

The Mutamba and Nhanombe basins are already at alert levels, and if they continue to receive heavy rainfall, they may overflow, creating difficulties in road traffic.

The Limpopo river basin, Vilanculos noted, currently has very high flow, and has been on alert for a few days. As the storm passes, the system could receive an additional 200 millimetres or more of rain in 48 hours.

“This is significant, so the population must be on high alert and track the information being provided. There are about 150,000 people at risk from floods in this [Limpopo] basin alone,” Vilanculos stressed.

The Incomati river basin is presently at relatively low levels, but volumes may rise quickly, due to the amount of precipitation, also leading to flooding, he added.

Source: Noticias