Mozambique: Flooding in southern river basins – AIM

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Mozambique: Flooding in southern river basins – AIM

8:02 CAT | 10 Feb 2023

The situation is becoming more dramatic in Boane district, on the Umbeluzi, because the Southern Regional Water Board (ARA-Sul) has ordered an increase in the discharges from the Pequenos Libombos dam, in order to guarantee the physical integrity of the dam. [Screen grab: Moz Massoko]

Mozambique’s National Directorate of Water Resource Management (DNGRH) has warned that flooding in the Umbeluzi and Incomati river basins, in Maputo province, could affect at last 24,000 people.

The National Director of Water Resource Management, Messias Macie, told AIM that about 10,000 people are at risk in the Incomati basin and 14,000 in the Umbeluzi basin

The floods are due to torrential rains, not only in southern Mozambique, but in the neighbouring countries of South Africa and Eswatini, which share the basins with Mozambique. Macie said that about 300 millimetres of rain had fallen in 24 hours in South Africa and Eswatini, leading to the saturation of the river basins.

The DNGRH has warned that the floods on the Umbeluzi and Incomati could inundate about 2,000 hectares of crops and affect traffic on several roads in the province.

The DNGRH has also advised people living near the banks of the Incomati, in Magude and Manhiça districts, to take precautionary measures. The same advice extends to residents of the Umbeluzi basin.

As from Thursday, the discharges from the dam rose to 230 cubic metres a second, and ARA-Sul warned that, if necessary, the discharges will rise to 600 cubic metres a second.

Heavy rain has been falling steadily in Maputo and the neighbouring city of Matola since Monday. As happens every rainy season, homes in poorly drained neighbourhoods of the two cities have been inundated, and residents are calling on the municipal councils for assistance.

Source: AIM