Rain-soaked, storm-battered Mozambique is bracing itself for more disastrous flooding this weekend, with a fresh cyclone threatening from the Indian Ocean and massive quantities of water being released from dams in neighbouring states.
The country's coastline was eerily calm yesterday, but aid agencies have warned that Cyclone Gloria, which is currently north of Madagascar, could give southern Mozambique its third pummelling in a month this weekend.
While the agencies are stockpiling food and shelter materials, meteorologists say the weather system should be spent by the time it reaches land, although they also predict that rainfall in March will be four times normal levels.
Helicopter pilots yesterday continued their efforts to rescue thousands of stranded people from buildings, trees and other high places. The South African defence forces have so far winched more than 7,000 people to safety.
"With 100,000 people to be rescued, many would be dead before we could pick them up with the limited number of helicopters available," said Mr Jo Thomas of Concern. "So the emphasis will be to drop food and water to them."
Fresh information about the scale of the disaster in outlying provinces is emerging. In the northern coastal town of Nova Mambone, for example, only two buildings survived the floods. Some 15,000 people are stranded, 5,000 in a Catholic mission. Just one helicopter is available to rescue survivors.
The swollen mouth of the Limpopo is now 20 kilometres across; normally it is no more than a few hundred metres wide.
As aid finally started to trickle in for the hundreds of thousands of people needing help, the official death toll has risen to over 200, although many more are feared dead.
There was clear evidence yesterday that the floodwaters are beginning to subside in some areas, although aid workers fear this trend may be reversed within days. Last week thousands returned to their flooded lands in rural Mozambique after the waters dropped, only to have to flee from a new surge last weekend.
This was caused largely by currents released when dams in neighbouring countries were opened. Authorities in South Africa and Zimbabwe opened their dams after fears were expressed that the high water levels could cause permanent damage.
According to Ireland's charge d'affaires in Maputo, Mr Justin Carroll, the effect of opening the dams on already swollen rivers could be "the great unknown". He commented: "Given the massive volumes of water involved, the results farther downstream could be very serious."
