The state-owned Mozambique Railways (CFM) has recorded a loss of three million US dollars (€2.5 million) following the suspension of services on the Limpopo line due to flooding, the company announced yesterday. Commercial losses amount to around three million US dollars as of 27 January, said Emídio Bata, executive director of CFM South, explaining that the losses are solely due to the interruption of freight transport. “We are still conducting assessments on site because there was indeed significant infrastructure damage, and we need to restore it.
The issue of bridges and culverts will require the largest portion of the budget to repair the line,” Bata stated, adding that losses may increase once the flood damage to the line is fully accounted for. The Limpopo line, in southern Mozambique, provides connection and mobility for people and goods to landlocked countries, including Zimbabwe, transporting products such as fuel, cereals, and containerised cargo. CFM resumed passenger transport in the south of the country on Monday, 12 days after the suspension caused by the floods.
In a statement, the state company said it had resumed passenger services on the Goba line, as well as the Matola-Gare, Manhiça and Marracuene routes on the Ressano Garcia and Limpopo lines, respectively, all located in southern Mozambique. Mozambique has recorded a total of 22 deaths in recent weeks’ floods, with 700,000 affected, 3,541 houses partially destroyed, 794 completely destroyed, and 165,946 flooded, according to provisional data from the National Institute for Disaster Management (INGD). INGD data also records 45 injured and 10 missing since the floods began on 7 January, at a time when families are still awaiting assistance in southern Mozambique.
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Since the start of the rainy season in October, including recent weeks of flooding, 146 deaths have been recorded, along with 148 injured and 820,984 people affected, according to INGD figures. Rescue and relief efforts continue for families trapped by the floods, especially in Maputo and Gaza provinces in southern Mozambique. The heavy rainfall over several days has forced dams, including those in neighbouring countries, to release water due to limited capacity. The European Union, the United States, Portugal, Angola, Spain, Timor-Leste, Norway, Japan, and neighbouring countries have already announced and sent emergency humanitarian aid.
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