Mozambique: Floods cause a “nightmare” night in Maputo – Lusa

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Mozambique: Floods cause a “nightmare” night in Maputo – Lusa

12:33 CAT | 10 Feb 2023

Photo: Luisa Nhantumbo / Lusa

Cecília Mate woke up yesterday with her bed partly submerged in the floods engulfing her neighbourhood, a “nightmare” after a morning of heavy rain in Maputo, the Mozambican capital.

“We thought it was a passing storm, like other days. We did not imagine that things would reach this level,” the 37-year-old told Lusa, a few metres from her house, now completely swallowed by the water.

With dozens of completely flooded houses and almost impassable streets, the peripheral neighbourhood where Cecília Mate lives saw a painful dawn for dozens of families who were forced to leave their homes to avoid tragedy.

“We preferred to spend the night on the street,” Cecília explained, alongside other families who live nearby in the Maxaquene A neighbourhood.

Most left their homes with nothing but the clothes on their backs.

Non-existent drainage, typical of the outskirts of Maputo, causes standing water to linger for days.

“We couldn’t save anything at home. The water got in and we only managed to save our lives,” says 41-year-old Lusa Castigo Mondlane.

In addition to having everything submerged, Castigo Mondlane, who works as an appliance repairman, has lost dozens of his clients’ machines.

“I don’t know what I’m going to say to these people. Some are customers who live around here and will understand, but there are others who will not. I don’t know what will happen if these people demand that I pay for the appliances that I lost in the rain,” he worried.

Thirty-two-year-old domestic worker Joana Luís has not been able to work for two days, her house now underwater in the Polana Caniço neighbourhood.

“I don’t know if my boss will have me back tomorrow,” she explains.

The heavy rain toped 100 millimetres in 24 hours, affecting 2,400 families, National Institute for Disaster Management (INGD) delegate for Maputo city Joana Luís told Lusa yesterday.

Mozambique is in the middle of the rainy season, with urban flooding common at this time of year.

Source: Lusa