Worst floods in six years, more expected

Mozambique has been hit by the worst floods in six years, with an estimated 29 people killed and 60,000 evacuated from the central Zambezi basin to higher ground, according to the government's disaster-response agency.

Rising floodwaters have washed roads away, cutting several towns off and hindering rescue efforts. "Before, it was possible [to reach communities] using just a boat," said Eunice Mucache, director of programmes for the Mozambique Red Cross, which has 500 volunteers in the flooded areas. "Now the situation is worsening - small boats can't make it, and we are starting to need helicopters."

Officials expect the flooding to worsen in the coming week, as heavy rain has been falling in the areas that feed the Zambezi River. In addition, controlled releases from the giant Cahora Bassa dam, in Tete Province in the northwest, will increase the flow downriver. Recent heavy rains also threaten to flood large areas in the north of the country.

Flooding in central Mozambique yet to crest, but government officials reported a preliminary toll of damage to more than 4,500 homes, over 100 schools, four health centres and 15,000 hectares of crops - two months ahead of the harvest season.

Last week, the government requested the World Food Programme (WFP) to prepare to provide food for as many as 285,000 displaced people over the next three months. Karin Manente, WFP's country director, said the agency had started delivering food supplies to 20,000 people at accommodation centres, on top of the 500 tonnes of food positioned at the centres before the flooding began.

"We do not have enough, and we will need more support from the donors," said Manente. "We have a regular programme, and our pipeline is running dry. By the end of March our stocks will be depleted."

The Mozambique Red Cross is planning an appeal to fund shelter for tens of thousands of people over an extended period, to cover the cost of tents, first-aid kits, water tanks, and water purification measures. Other items, such as axes and shovels to help people with resettlement once the waters recede, are also needed.

Aid workers said the current disaster was unlikely to match the events of 2000 and 2001, when flooding resulted in the death of more than 500 people and caused huge infrastructural damage, as government preparations and emergency coordination have improved significantly since then.

Some government officials have expressed frustration with residents who refused to leave homes in inundated or threatened areas, and Mozambique's armed forces have forcibly evacuated several thousand people to accommodation centres.

Carvalho Muaria, governor of Zambezia Province, said people who lived in the fertile flood plain should relocate permanently. "We don't want this to go on, with people cyclically vulnerable to floods," he told the government-run Noticias newspaper, "because these funds that we are spending now should be applied to development efforts."

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