Flood and drought

By Joseph Hanlon

As floods in central Mozambique worsen, the government declared a red alert on Tuesday in the basins of the Zambezi, Pungue, Buzi, and Licungo rivers. Five ministers and vice-ministers have flown to the area. Four districts are now cut off, and can no longer be reached by road: Mutarara in Tete Province, Tambara in Manica, and Chemba in Sofala - all on the Zambezi - and Buzi in Sofala, cut off by the Pungue. The main road linking Beira to Chimoio and Zimbabwe is now closed to all but the largest vehicles, which can pass only under police escort.

A very detailed report from 10 March by the National Disasters Management Institute (INGC, Instituto Nacional de Gestão de Calamidades) is posted on my website: http://www.tinyurl.com/mozamb

So far the flooding is not extreme or abnormal; there were floods in this region in 2007 and 2008. Peasants farm the fertile and well watered soils near the rivers, so people must evacuate low-lying areas. Levels on the Pungue are slowly falling. But releases from the Kariba dam in Zambia and the Cahora Bassa dam in Tete have been sharply increased, so water levels in the Zambezi River will rise considerably in coming days.

Meanwhile, there is a problem of drought in central and southern Mozambique, affecting 61 districts in Maputo, Gaza, Inhambane, Sofala, Manica, Tete and Zambezia provinces, putting 785,000 households at risk of food shortages. At least one-third of the projected crops have been lost in this area.