5,000 people affected by floods in southern Mozambique

Nearly 5,000 people are affected by current floods in the southern Mozambican province of Gaza, state radio reported Sunday. It said the victims are from the provincial capital, Xai Xai, and the districts of Guija, Chokwe and Chibuto. Radio Mozambique quoted the National Disasters Management Institute (INGC) as revealing that many villages in Gaza have been isolated by the fury waters due to rains that have been falling since Tuesday in Mozambique. The downpours have hampered roads, mainly the tertiary ones, in the southern provinces of Gaza, Maputo and Inhambane. The main south-north highway has been cut off and hundreds of cars have also been stranded. The INGC says the authorities in Gaza are making efforts to remove people living along the Limpopo river basin and accommodate them in a special accommodation center. In Chokwe, more than 600 people affected by the calamity have been sheltered in a center set up for the sufferers. Some of the displaced by the inundations were on roof tops and tree tops seeking for help. The authorities are supplying them with food aid and domestic utensils. In Maputo province, the flood victims are already receiving food aid from the provincial government. In central Mozambique, rains are still falling in a moderate manner, and the authorities are on alert. The INGC is urging the people who live in flood prone areas abandon the risky zones in the Zambezi valley and along the Maputo river. In Maputo, the floods are caused by rains and water from floodgates of the South African Pongola dam. So far, seven people have been confirmed dead in the natural disaster.