Water levels in the Pungue, Save and Buzi rivers were rising at alarming levels after intensive rain hit Mozambique’s central provinces and neighbouring Zimbabwe, state media reported on Friday.
Antonio Melembe, spokesperson of the national water administration body for the central region, ÃÂguas-Ara Centro, told Radio Mozambique that the three rivers had reached alert levels.
Extensive portions of soil from fields had been washed away and most parts were flooded.
Melembe said the water levels in the Pungue River had increased significantly in the Mafambisse district.
Officials from the national office of the national disaster-management institute were meeting in Sofala province to monitor the situation.
Multisector groups had been created to evacuate people from flooded areas, said Melembe.
The daily Noticias also reported on its Friday edition that at least 150 families who resided in the Sofala province’s districts of Dondo, Nhamatanda and Massequeça in the Pungue River basin were forced to abandon their homes on Thursday due to flooding.
The paper also said parts of the Inhangoma administrative post in Mutarara district of Tete province were cut off from the rest of the country due to flooding in the Zambezi and Chire rivers.
Alexandre Faite, district administrator of Inhangoma district, told the Noticias that the water level in the Zambezi River had reached 4,8m, just a few centimetres short of the alert level of 5m.
More than 200ha of diverse crops and several homes were washed away in the Pungue River basin on Thursday, the paper reported.
Augusto de Jesus, secretary of Pungue south districts, appealed to people living in low-lying areas to relocate to safer zones.
More rain was expected to fall on Friday in the central parts of the country and in southern Malawi, and authorities said this could result in an increase in the water levels of the Zambezi and Chire rivers. — Sapa