Zimbabwe’s civil-protection unit issued new warnings of floods expected to further harm the stricken economy as fears grew in neighbouring Mozambique that floods there would be worse than in 2001, when 800 people died.
Zimbabwe state radio said on Wednesday that flooding risks were on the increase as the Cahora Bassa Dam in neighboring Mozambique, affected by heavy rains across the region, was pushing water back upstream into the Muzarabani and Dande areas of Zimbabwe, where at least 600 villagers have already lost their homes, crops and livestock in flood waters.
The official Herald newspaper said the government offered Muzarabani flood victims food, parcels of land on a state-owned agricultural estate and assistance to build houses on higher ground. It also promised to help evacuate people at risk from the waters.
The district of Muzarabani, or ”flood plain” in the local Shona language, lies in the Zambezi valley, about 220km north-east of Harare. The Zambezi River feeds into the Cahora Bassa Dam.
It is Africa’s fourth longest river, originating in north-western Zambia near the border with Angola across a four-nation catchment area where more heavy rains are forecast.
At least 27 people have died in Zimbabwe, where rains since early December are reportedly the heaviest since colonial -era records. Most of the victims were swept away by flooded rivers.
The Zimbabwe Meteorological Service Department forecast further heavy rains across the country, the Herald said.
National water authority spokesperson Elisha Madamombe said flooding risks remained critical in low-lying areas.
”With the ground already saturated, most of the water will find its way into the rivers,” he told the newspaper.
In Zimbabwe’s rain-lashed towns, drinking water and power failures have worsened. Chronic shortages of hard currency and the world’s highest inflation have made it difficult for utilities to buy imported equipment.
The economic crisis also has meant acute shortages of soaps and detergents. On Wednesday, water authorities appealed to people to stop scouring pots and pans with sand, which was blocking ageing drains and sewers.
Power failures shut down the main Harare water-treatment plant.
In Mozambique, aid agencies are preparing for the worst. The floods are expected to be worse than last year, when at least 40 people died and more than 120 000 had to leave their homes. So far this rainy season, five people have drowned and two were eaten by crocodiles. An estimated 50 000 have moved out of their homes and 30 000 more are believed at risk.
There is mounting concern that the devastation could outstrip the 2001 floods, which displaced about half a million people. Although Mozambique has since improved its disaster-prevention services, authorities are reporting growing problems in trying to evacuate people from stricken areas as roads to central Mozambique are impassable and they face a lack of resources.
”The situation is bound to get worse here,” said World Vision emergency officer Amos Doornbos in a statement late on Tuesday.
”We know we have not yet reached the peak of the rainy season due in mid-February. Disaster-prevention work is helping to reduce the likelihood of a high death toll like we saw in 2001,” Doornbos said, ”but those affected are the very vulnerable, whose crops were wiped out last year and who have now lost their livelihood again.”
Staff at a World Vision-supported HIV/Aids project in the southern town of Machanga said the local hospital was now under water.
About 50 schools have been destroyed. — Sapa-AP