Mozambique: Government deactivates accommodation centres in Zambezia and Nampula provinces – AIM

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Mozambique: Government deactivates accommodation centres in Zambezia and Nampula provinces – AIM

9:36 CAT | 02 Feb 2022

Screen grab: Miramar

The Mozambican government has deactivated the accommodation centres opened last week in Zambezia and Nampula provinces, to shelter dozens of people driven from their homes by tropical cyclone Ana that caused the deaths of at least 21 people.

Addressing reporters on Tuesday in Maputo, after the weekly meeting of the Council of Ministers (Cabinet), the government spokesperson, Inocencio Impissa, the Deputy Minister of State Administration, said that most of the people who had sought shelter at the accommodation centres are returning to their places of origin.

Currently, there remain only three accommodation centres in the central province of Tete which are still receiving humanitarian aid from the government’s relief agency, the National Disaster Risk Management Institute (INGD).

Read: Tete: Outbreaks of disease at Instituto Industrial de Matundo accommodation centre

“Zambezia and Nampula have closed their centres, as the people hosted there decided to return to their homes,” Impissa said.

The cyclone that battered parts of central and northern Mozambique on 24 January completely destroyed 5,730 houses and damaged 14,728 others.

The latest INGD report said that 30 health units were damaged, and 23 water supply systems. The storm also hit 543 classrooms from 249 schools affecting 46,777 pupils. 2,275 kilometres of roads were also affected of which 45 kilometres remain impassible.

Another storm, cyclone Batsirai, is heading across the Indian Ocean towards Mozambique, but it will hit Madagascar first. This cyclone is tracking southwest at a speed of ten knots (about 19 kilometres an hour).

On Wednesday it was heading towards the eastern coast of Madagascar with wind speeds of 105 knots (195 kilometres an hour). The cyclone is expected to make landfall on Madgascar on Saturday.

Well before then, the island nation of Mauritius was feeling the effects of the storm. The Mauritian authorities closed the country’s airport and its main beaches, as the cyclone approached.

Read: Cyclone dumps heavy rains on Mauritius en route to Madagascar

Cyclones lose strength over land, and so Batsirai is likely to weaken as it crosses Madagascar. By Monday, it is forecast to be entering the warm waters of the Mozambique Channel, where it will pick up speed again.

On the course plotted by the Joint Typhoon Warning Centre (JTWC) of the US navy, Batsirai may hit the Mozambican coast somewhere between Beira and Inhambane.

#Batsirai‘s current forecast path then takes it south west over Maputo the capital of Mozambique, Eswatini, and into North Eastern South Africa. Modelling suggests the storm may follow the coast southwards at that point – but cyclones, especially strong ones, are unpredictable. pic.twitter.com/XrJNACbl7a

— Alastair Thompson (@althecat) February 2, 2022

Intense TC #Batsirai is passing N of #Mauritius & is now the equivalent of a Category 4 hurricane. Heavy rain & gusty winds likely in Mauritius & #Reunion into Thurs. Cyclone will strike #Madagascar Sat & can enter S Mozambique Channel Sunday. Storm can impact S #Mozambique Tues. pic.twitter.com/STxHZnjznh

— Jason Nicholls (@jnmet) February 2, 2022