Mozambique: Authorities urge ‘careful preparation’ for ‘above average’ rainy season

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Mozambique: Authorities urge ‘careful preparation’ for ‘above average’ rainy season

3:50 CAT | 17 Oct 2024

FILE - For illustration purposes only. [File photo: Lusa]

Mozambique’s National Institute for Disaster Risk Reduction and Management (INGD) has warned of the need for “careful preparation” for the current rainy season, given forecasts of “above average” rainfall especially in the south of the country.

“According to forecasts for the 2024-2025 rainy season, Mozambique could face above-average rainfall, especially in the provinces of Gaza, Inhambane and Maputo, and there is a moderate to high risk of flooding in several river basins,” states information issued by the INGD accessed by Lusa today.

INGD also mentions the forecast of “urban flooding in cities such as Maputo, Matola and Beira” during the rainy season, which runs from October to April.

“This scenario requires careful preparation and increased attention on the part of the authorities and the population,” adds the information from that institute.

The last rainy season in Mozambique, which began in October last year, affected around 240,000 people, completely destroying more than 1,800 homes, according to data presented in June by the Government.

“Across the country, around 240,000 people were affected, with over 34,000 homes affected, more than 5,000 partially destroyed and around 1,800 completely destroyed,” said the permanent secretary of the Ministry of Transport and Communications, Ambrósio Sitoe.

He added that “during the 2023/2024 rainy season, ten tropical systems formed in the southwestern Indian Ocean basin”, of which “two hit the Mozambican coast, namely moderate tropical storm Álvaro and moderate tropical storm Filipo”, the latter having severe effects in Inhambane and Maputo, in the south of the country.

Mozambique is considered one of the countries most severely affected by climate change in the world, facing cyclical floods and tropical cyclones during the rainy season, which runs from October to April.

The last rainy season particularly affected Maputo, the country’s capital, with the mayor, Razaque Manhique, stating at this meeting that 14,420 families were affected by the floods, totalling 65,513 people, causing eight deaths and leaving 2,323 families homeless.

“We cannot and do not want to spend our lives visiting stagnant rainwater in the various municipal districts of our city. We must jointly seek concrete, scientifically valid and definitive solutions to mitigate the impact of climate change in our country and in the city of Maputo, the capital, in particular”, the mayor previously appealed.

Extreme events, such as cyclones and storms, caused at least 1,016 deaths in Mozambique between 2019 and 2023, affecting around 4.9 million people, according to a report by the National Institute of Statistics (INE) reported in September by Lusa.

In the 2023 Basic Environmental Indicators report, the INE details all extreme events since 2019 and their consequences, adding that these also caused 2,936 injuries in the same four-year period.

Sofala province, in central Mozambique, was the most affected by a single event, with Cyclone Idai in 2019 causing 403 deaths – of the 603 it caused across the country -, affecting 1,190,594 people and leaving 1,597 injured.

Also due to Cyclone Idai, the province of Manica followed, with 262,890 affected, 185 dead and 23 injured.

The report also points out that in 2021, rain, winds and lightning caused 30 deaths, followed in 2022 by tropical storm Ana, which affected 186,739 people, including 21 deaths, tropical cyclone Gombe, which caused 61 deaths, affected 755,166 people and injured 117, among other extreme weather events.

In 2023, heavy rains, strong winds, floods, fires and lightning affected 76,359 people across the country, causing 105 deaths and 74 injuries.

Source: Lusa