Serious Flooding in Mozambique

25 January 2013

Update: 2 February 2013:

Bishop Richard has asked for this information to be circulated to all clergy: Our partners in Mozambique have alerted us to intense flooding. 80 people have died with over 150,000 displaced to temporary camps. Please keep Mozambique in your prayers.

ALMA (Angola London Mozambique Association) has made an immediate donation of £2000 to assist with church based flood relief. Anyone wishing to make a financial contribution can do so via ALMA: cheques payable to London Diocesan Fund (ALMA). Please add a note stating that it is for flood relief.

The ALMA London facebook page is regularly updated on the floods and with news from our partners in Mozambique.

Severe rains in the last two weeks in Southern Africa have resulted in floods in Mozambique.

In Maputo a thousand homes were destroyed along with some schools, roads, sewage and water distribution systems and some electricity sub stations.
There is also extremely serious flooding along the Limpopo River basin that may be even more devastating than the huge floods of 2000. A red flood alert is in place with compulsory evacuation in force.
Bishop Dinis Sengulane, Bishop of Lebombo, reports that Chokwe was inundated on Wednesday with the flood surge moving down towards the mouth of the river at Xai Xai, the capital of Gaza province, on Friday-Saturday.
Waters as high as 8 metres (26 feet) are expected which will sever the main road connection between the north and the south.
To date over 70,000 people have been displaced although this is expected to rise to over 100,000 when the surge reaches Xai Xai.
36 people have died - 26 in Gaza Province. The scale of the flooding means the agricultural land and crops have been destroyed and the risk of malaria is very high.

Bishop Dinis writes:

I am writing as many people, dozens of thousands, some of them members of our Church including the Archdeacon of Limpopo, Ven Xavier Muaga are displaced as the town of Chókwe is completely under water. It is not just rain but also water from rivers that run through countries that I having rains at the moment. The situation is dramatic and it calls for response if we are to avoid more damages to the lives of people . two Anglican Churches in Macia are accommodating more than 100 people, many hectars of fields in Gaza, Sofala, Inhambane and Manica Provinces are flooded so all crops and seeds have been completely lost. After the floods, stagnant waters will be come favorable places for proliferation of mosquitoes that brings malaria.

Our response should, among others, consist of:

Mosquito nets to prevent malaria

Seeds so that as soon as people go back to their areas they can sow seeds

School material for children, as when they fled their homes running for their lives all school material and uniforms were left and floods have taken them away

Soap and similar items.

Around Maputo the destruction was such that there are people who lost houses, land, protection as the waters snatched all these things; and helplessly they could not believe what their eyes were beholding. So much destructive water.

May God enlighten us as we try to respond to this unexpected challenge.

Together in the faith of Jesus Christ

The Right Revd Dinis Salomão Sengulane

Bishop of Lebombo.