GRIFFIN SHEA, Caia, Mozambique | Sunday
THE Zambezi River, which has already swallowed a huge swathe of central Mozambique, threatens to submerge a town of 41 000 people as dams upstream are being forced to release more water into the river, officials said on Saturday.
“The situation does not look very, very good up along the Zambezi River, which is our main concern right now,” Mozambique’s Environment Minister John Kachamila said. “The river is rising, and there is more rain in Zambia, is what we are told.”
He added: “There is more water coming, and the Cahora Bassa Dam will have to be opened.”
Mozambique’s government is making plans to evacuate the entire town of Marromeu, where 41_000 people live, Kachamila said. The Zambezi’s waters are already at 7.45m, and if they reach the eight metre mark the entire town will be endangered, Kachamila said.
The Zambezi River has burst its banks in central Mozambique, downstream from the dam, and swollen to a massive 15km expanse through the middle of the country.
On Saturday, the Cahora Bassa Dam increased its discharges to 6_100 cubic meters per second, from 4_600 cubic metres on Thursday, said Silvano Langa, director of the National Disaster Management Institute.
Waters released from Cahora Bassa take two to three days to reach the region around Caia and Marromeu, he said.
Towns lucky enough to sit on high land have become islands. Seen from the air Saturday, the Zambezi’s waters were lapping at the edge of Marromeu, but the airstrip was still dry. Two railway bridges across the Zambezi have collapsed and roads in the region are impassable, leaving the entire central region of Mozambique accessible only by air.
The floods have completely covered three regions near Caia, said Alan Hooker, relief manager in Sofala province for the World Vision aid agency.
“If it continues raining as forecast, and they have to open the gates of the dam … we could see major loss of life in the three regions. There is no alternative [but] to create an emergency infrastructure and serve it by air. The critical issue for the next weeks is funding,” Hooker said.
Those who escape the floods face the difficult task of surviving the aftermath. With crops destroyed and livestock killed throughout the region, Hooker estimates that 80 to 90% of the region’s food supply is gone. – AFP
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