Given the threat of the river bursting its banks, authorities have been releasing water from the Cahora Bassa dam on the Zambezi at the rate of 6 600 cubic metres per second, flooding lower parts of Tete province.Farms, factories and government buildings have been inundated.
Standing at Samora Machel bridge, in Tete, peasant farmer Aldina Fernando told local television: "I've lost the entire crop. Everything has gone with the water. It's been a waste of time and hard work.""The water is nearing each time I look around," Marcelino Adriano, a security guard at a local soap and oil factory, said. "Maybe tomorrow I won't be here."So far 41 000 people had been evacuated from their homes to temporary shelters, Minister of Home Affairs Lucas Chomera told public Radio Mozambique.Three people had drowned in Sofala province, Chomera said. But authorities fear the casualties may be higher as thousands of people remain stranded in remote water-logged areas.The INGC has been praised for coordinating an efficient rescue and relief effort, contrasting with the chaotic scenes of 2000 and 2001 when some 700 people died and around half a million were displaced by devastating floods.
As in the days of Noah....