Maputo, 2 Mar (AIM) – Over 7,000 people living in Govuro district, in the southern Mozambican province of Inhambane, and in Machanga town, in the neighbouring province of Sofala, have been forced to abandon their homes due to severe flooding on the Save river, which forms the boundary between Inhambane and Sofala.
According to the administrator of Govuro district, Francisco Mozimbingua, cited in Thursday’s issue of the Maputo daily “Notícias”, right now the victims are being rescued to safer places.
“The neighbourhoods of Josina Machel, Mussanga, Djenga, Matasse and Matique (in Nova Mambone town, capital of Govuro district) are entirely flooded and over 4,000 inhabitants have been taken to safer areas”, he said.
The situation, says the administrator, may worsen in the near future, since the rain is continuing to fall.
For her part, the administrator of Machanga, Natália Chivambo, confirmed that 48 households have already been rescued.
“We stared rescuing people at 02.00 when it started to rain. We started rescuing people using two boats made available by the National Disaster Management Institute (INGD)”, Chivambo said.
“Of the 21 neighbourhoods of the town, 19 are flooded. The town has 67,000 inhabitants. It is raining heavily upstream, in Zimbabwe. Our major concern is to save human lives”, she added.
As result of the current rainy season, all crops along the banks of the Save, in Machanga, have been lost.
The flooding has forced the National Roads Administration (ANE) to halt all work on the new bridge over the Save, and to evacuate from the site all workers, materials and equipment.
Traffic over the old bridge is continuing, but with a weight limit of 35 tonnes per vehicle.
(AIM)
