Good afternoon. The enduring image of Mozambique’s worst-ever flood in the year 2000 was that of Rosita Mabuiango, the “miracle baby” born in a tree surrounded by floodwater and then winched to safety by a South African helicopter. 26 years later (and just after Mabuiango’s untimely death from anaemia), Mozambique is ending the week amidst the worst flooding the country has seen since 2000. Not only has heavy rain increased the water levels in the reservoirs created by dams in the Limpopo, Umbeluzi and Incomati river basins, but those reservoirs lie downstream of dams in South Africa and Eswatini, whose floodgates have been opened to deal with the high water levels. In response, the authorities have been forced in turn to open floodgates in the Pequenos Libombos, Corumana and Massingir dams. The water level in the Pequenos Libombos reservoir was at 97% of capacity yesterday. The dam has been discharging at a rate of 2,500 cubic metres a second into the Umbeluzi river basin in Maputo province, now threatening the towns of Boane and Umbeluzi, parts of Namaacha district, and the city of Matola, Mozambique’s largest city. At the Massingir dam, water is being discharged at over 8,600 cubic metres a second at the time of writing, but despite this, the water level is only four metres short of the top of the dam; the reservoir is at 107% of capacity. The emergency floodgates have been automatically opened for the first time since 1977.
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The flooding is worst in Gaza province, where the Limpopo river flows to the sea near the town of Xai-Xai. People have been evacuated from the cities of Chókwè and Chibuto to get out of the way of rising waters, and evacuations from Xai-Xai are likely to follow. In the Limpopo valley, some 100,000 people have fled their homes and need food and shelter. Neighbourhoods in Maputo are also being flooded, although this is not related to the dams overflowing so much as due to uncontrolled housebuilding in floodplains. Today the government declared a “red alert” across the country, which will give it the power to forcibly remove people in high risk areas and to use available resources to help victims.
