CLAIRE KEETON, Mafambisse, Mozambique | Sunday
A CYCLONE threatening Mozambique was no longer a danger by Saturday but the devastation of recent flooding was still causing havoc, officials said.
“The threat of the cyclone has receded,” Colonel Hugh Paine from the South African National Defence Force said, indicating that his team of rescuers might leave the country soon since the emergency in Mozambique had abated.
Mozambican weather forecasters said the cyclone was not expected to affect inland areas of the flood-ravaged nation but had moved closer to Madagascar.
The UN World Food Programme (WFP) is conducting air drops of relief supplies in Mozambique. “We dropped off food, medicines, shelters, latrines and three boats today,” WFP flight coordinator Jaco Kloppers said at Beira airport.
Air transport is critical in the heavily flooded central region where many roads are impassable.
The main road from Beira to Mutare in eastern Zimbabwe remained closed Saturday, leading to a pile-up of about 50 trucks.
“We are taking losses by sitting here when our supplies need to be moved,” said Zimbabwean Prince Matika, waiting impatiently with other truckers at a rest stop.
Since a significant amount of Zimbabwe’s fuel comes by road via Beira, a petrol and diesel shortage in the country has been exacerbated by Mozambique’s flooding disaster.
The Beira road was under fast-flowing water from the Pungwe River at several points, while road workers were heaping rocks into sinkholes to try to shore it up.
On either side of the Pungwe bridge were two villages partially submerged from the worst flooding last month.
About 2 500 people have been displaced to the nearby village of Mafambisse, where the Mozambican Red Cross has set up a camp.
Izaire Paulo Domingo from the Red Cross said Saturday that people continue to arrive at the camp in search of shelter.
Meanwhile, with the diminished threat of more flooding, humanitarian organisations are concentrating more on the danger of diseases such as malaria and diarrhoea, termed “a major threat” by the head of the Mozambican Red Cross, Mark Wilson.
The flooding has affected a region to the west of the Pungwe River and another further east along the Zambezi valley. The small town of Caia is in the middle of this area, and nearer to the delta is Morromeu, now an island.
The floods have killed some 77 people and affected another 490 000. – AFP
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