Mozambicans Rescued From Trees as Deadly Floodwaters Rise

(Bloomberg) -- Rescue workers raced to pluck Mozambicans from trees and rooftops as floodwaters that have killed hundreds in the region continue to rise.

Tropical Cyclone Idai has deluged Mozambique and neighboring Zimbabwe with rain since last week, killing at least 300 people and leaving thousands stranded as rising waters cut off entire communities. Mozambique declared a state of emergency on Tuesday as the death toll in the country more than doubled to 202 and is expected to climb further.

Downpours continue to hamper rescue efforts, said Caroline Haga, a spokeswoman for the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. On Wednesday, aircraft operating from the international rescue coordination center at the airport in Beira, the coastal city that bore the brunt of Idai, were temporarily grounded because of bad weather.

“We are looking at a severe humanitarian emergency here that is affecting thousands and thousands of people. It’s so much more severe than we were expecting,” Haga said in an interview. “These people are now trapped in trees and on rooftops of buildings.”

Bridges Destroyed

The floods are similar to what Mozambique experienced when Cyclone Leon-Eline struck in 2000 and about 800 people died. President Filipe Nyusi said the death toll from this month’s floods could rise to 1,000 in his country alone. That would make it the third most deadly floods in Africa on record, according to data from the Brussels-based International Disaster Database.

The storm caused flooding over an area of 394 square kilometers (152 square miles), according to European Union satellite imagery. At least 1.5 million people have been affected, the United Nations said.

Damaged infrastructure has hindered rescue efforts as well. The storm destroyed roads and bridges in central Mozambique and eastern Zimbabwe, while high waters have made others impassable. Communications networks and electricity have been cut over large areas.

Before Idai became a tropical cyclone, it had already caused flooding and more than 70 deaths in Mozambique and neighboring Malawi earlier this month.

Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Malawi are among the world’s poorest countries, and many of those affected by the flooding are smallholder farmers who were about to harvest their corn crops. Much of the region had suffered a drought before the floods.

To contact the reporters on this story: Borges Nhamire in Beira at bnhamire@bloomberg.net;Matthew Hill in Maputo at mhill58@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Antony Sguazzin at asguazzin@bloomberg.net, Pauline Bax, Alastair Reed

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