Thousands of people are abandoning villages in low-lying areas in central Mozambique due to rising river flows due to heavy rain, officials said on Friday.
There are several flooded villages and many submerged agricultural fields.
In Sofala province, about 700 families – between 3,500 to 4,000 people – have already been registered, but the counting still takes place in three reception centers in the Nhamatanda area, announced the director-general of the National Institute for Disaster Management (INGC) , Luísa Meque.
“These are preliminary data because we are still working to find out the exact number,” said the official on a visit to the site.
Local authorities estimate the numbers to be higher.
There is no official record of deaths, but there is a report of at least one missing child, according to the survey that is still ongoing.
It is estimated that about 8,000 hectares of subsistence crops are submerged.
“The water came [na povoação] on Thursday night, ”said Helena João, one of the residents who ran away with four children, leaving behind the produce from the garden and others that should guarantee food.
“Corn and rice, it was all with water,” he described.
Manuel Joaquim, another resident, regretted the scenario, at a time when the population was still trying to “recover from the damage caused by Cyclone Idai”, a year ago.
The flood alert was launched nationally by authorities on Wednesday and replicated at the local level, said the resident, who said he had been warned of the opening of dam gates in the region.
In addition to food, for the immediate, the population asks for seeds to plant after the rainy season.
The current rainy season in Mozambique, from October to April, has already killed 54 people and affected around 65,000, many with flooded homes, according to INGC data.
The 2018/2019 rainy season was one of the most severe in memory: 714 people died, including 648 victims of two cyclones (Idai and Kenneth) that hit Mozambique.
