Rains in Maputo and Matola: Belongings destroyed, weaknesses exposed

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Rains in Maputo and Matola: Belongings destroyed, weaknesses exposed

3:10 CAT | 10 Feb 2023

The rain that fell in the last 48 hours in Maputo city and province has left its toll. Houses collapsed or flooded, cars abandoned in the middle of the road, streets almost impassable. Some residents have had to leave their homes.

It all started on Tuesday night, just a sign of things to come. By Thursday, the scenario became more evident. In Maputo city, weaknesses of several neighbourhoods began to be apparent.

In Triunfo, Costa do Sol and Mapulene, the so-called posh neighbourhoods with luxurious houses, the rain once again showed its might. With the streets flooded and almost impassable, even the ‘luxury’ cars had difficulty measuring up to the water.

To get from one place to another, there were two options: walking barefoot or wearing rubber boots with trousers, dresses, skirts and capulanas hoisted above the knee.

READ: Mozambique: Flooding takes four lives in Maputo city and province – Lusa

“Solidarity” is a word that made a lot of sense. The strongest and most courageous carried other people on their backs across the waters. Shoes came off and feet started to break out in blisters. That’s what happened to Orlando Baloi, who works in the Triunfo neighbourhood.

“When I got off the ‘chapa’, I realized that all this was full of water, I still tried to enter through here, but, due to the amount of water, I preferred to use another path, but without success, because, when I got there, I saw that it was worse. I found some people who said that the water is waist-deep, so I decided to go back and face this knee-deep water,” he said.

The situation in the Triunfo neighborhood has already been worse, but was alleviated by a drainage ditch, which is currently already full and overflowing.

If the big cars could still get through the water, the small ones couldn’t even try. “Small cars are no use, I had to leave mine at home, there’s no point in taking chances. Yesterday I had problems and I don’t want to make the car worse,” said Arlindo Sabor, who works as a chauffeur in one of the residences in the Triunfo neighbourhood.

In Triunfo, nature did the same thing. Even at the Ntwanano Community School, the rain had no mercy on the children. Every yard was flooded, getting in and out of the school a balancing act. For the children, it was a sad day, as they couldn’t do what they love most: play.

“At the entrance to the school, they placed bags of sand so we could pass, even so, we got wet; today we don’t play or leave the room,” said Shelton, a student there.

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

In the Costa do Sol neighbourhood, on Rua Major-General Cândido Mondlane, better known as Rua Dona Alice, the situation was the same, and the amusement park did not escape the raging water.

Manager Victor Rodrigues told ‘O Pais’ that the waters invaded the park, flooding the entire parking lot. The plants were all submerged, and it was impossible to enter or leave the enclosure.

“The road was built way above grade so instead of the water going out through our drainage system, it backs up. The situation worsens because those responsible for cleaning the ditch are not doing anything,” he explained.

Some saw everything built throughout a lifetime reduced to nothing. We found Francisco Mota fighting with the water at the gate of his house, which was completely flooded.

He told O País that he lost almost everything – furniture, electrical appliances and other objects and that on Wednesday night he stayed with relatives.

“Now, all we can do is wait for the water to go down, so that I can go back and work to buy new furniture. The truth is that the last time I saw this happen was in 1977, and I did not imagine that this would happen again,” he complained.

In Mapulene, houses were also submerged, “suffering” and “sadness” the words most on the lips of neighbourhood residents.

House owner Ana Morais told our reporters that the destruction of her house dates back to the rains that fell in April last year.

“I don’t have a backyard anymore, the children don’t have a space to play. We don’t need to buy fish anymore, because here, in our backyard, there’s too much. My house was ruined and I began to build another one. I can’t live like this; I’m even putting rubble in the backyard,” she said.

Ana Morais blames Maputo Municipality for not putting in drainage ditches, which is, she stresses, the simplest solution to a problem which residents say has been exacerbated by the “mansions” built around her home, which stop water from draining away.

Maputo province

In Maputo province, an equally chaotic scenario is witnessed, characterized by overturned houses, collapsed walls, flooded streets, people diving in dirty water, impassable roads – a scene of genuine lamenting.

In just one block of the Mozal neighbourhood, three houses collapsed. Luckily, no one was inside at the time, according to Mrs Carla.

“It was around 10:00 p.m. on Wednesday when we heard a crash. We went out to see. Everything was dark, but we saw a part of the wall of this warehouse had come down. When dawn came, we saw that two houses, one made of wood and zinc and the other one masonry, had collapsed. Ours only escaped by luck,” she said.

Along National Road Number 4 in Maputo province, other walls were defeated in the fight against the waters.

In the Liberdade neighbourhood, residents were trapped in their homes because the streets were flooded.

This occurred in an area soon to be served by a drainage ditch, the first stone of which was laid just last week. It is expected to resolve the situation, but until then, residents will continue to be besieged.

Families had to abandon their homes due to the amount of water, joining others walking the water with bags of clothing, baskets and other belongings.

“I was afraid to go out. The water reached up to my children’s chests, so that I thought they might drown. This is sad! I want to invite the city council, in the person of the mayor, to come here and dive into these waters, in order to feel what we feel,” one distressed resident said.

It became more complicated to walk through some streets and avenues in Matola city. There are danger signs everywhere. Holes in the public road, deep puddles, all caused or made worse by the rain that has been falling since last Tuesday.

The city council of Matola speaks of challenges that exceed its capacity. They recognize the challenges facing the construction of drainage ditches and availability of funds.

“The rain on Tuesday morning, which was intense, had been accommodated due to the preventive work that was done to drain the water,” said Bernardo Dramos, chairman of the Board of Directors of the Water and Sanitation Management Company of the Municipality of Maputo.

“It was intense, but the infrastructure managed to respond and the waters, by the end of the day, had gone well and all the steps were accessible. However, with the discharge at the end of the day on Thursday, the challenge became greater, in the sense that all infrastructures were overloaded. And as you know, water also carries with it solid waste, bottles and plastics, which further compromises the drainage system,” he explained.

Dramos goes further in his reasoning: “The rains that fell from yesterday to today, in any corner of the world, no system responds immediately. The most important thing is that, if there are floods, which is normal, it is natural that in a situation like this, the infrastructure has the capacity for the rain to take a break. Thus, the first challenge would be to build drainage, sanitation and sewage infrastructure that has the capacity to respond more effectively.”

READ: Heavy rains with thunderstorms over the next 48 hours for the south and centre of Mozambique