The Mozambican parliament’s deputies will allocate approximately 2.7 million meticais (€36,400) to support victims of floods caused by heavy rains across the country, it was announced. “The Standing Commission of the Assembly of the Republic has decided that members of parliament will contribute two days’ salary, totalling 2,709,120 meticais, to be handed over to the National Institute for Disaster Risk Management (INGD),” said the spokesperson for the Standing Commission, Sérgio Pantie. At least 103 people have died and 173,000 have been affected since the start of the rainy season in Mozambique, with a total of 1,160 houses destroyed and over 4,000 partially flooded, the government reported this Friday, having declared a national red alert.
Also this Friday, the Standing Commission met in an extraordinary session to assess the situation caused by the intense rains that have led to floods across practically the entire country. The parliament expressed condolences for the deaths and urged people to leave high-risk areas. “The Standing Commission and the members of parliament have followed with concern the impact of these rains on our population and public and private infrastructure, and express solidarity with the victims of these floods,” said Pantie.
At least 10 people, out of nearly 70 who have been trapped since Sunday, have already been rescued in the district of Mapai, Gaza province, southern Mozambique, announced today the Provincial Executive Council, after torrential rain on Thursday prevented a helicopter from conducting the rescue. The Mozambican President said earlier that the government hopes for improvements in weather conditions to save those trapped by the rains, emphasising that the country must “better manage the climatic events” that affect it to avoid further deaths. The current rainy season, which began in October and runs until April, has been marked by alerts, especially in the central and southern regions, with authorities activating flood and inundation prevention measures.
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On Wednesday, the National Directorate for Water Resources Management of Mozambique estimated that at least 400,000 people are at risk of compulsory removal from their homes due to flood risks in Gaza province. The National Institute of Meteorology (INAM) of Mozambique issued a red alert on Thursday for heavy to very heavy rains in the coming hours, particularly in Gaza and Maputo provinces, considered the most vulnerable given the forecast precipitation intensity, with a high risk of floods, inundations and lightning strikes.
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