Climatic

Citation

(2001), "Climatic", Disaster Prevention and Management, Vol. 10 No. 1. https://doi.org/10.1108/dpm.2001.07310aac.003

Climatic

Climatic

26 February 2000 – Maputo, Southern Africa

Aid organisations warned today that southern Africa's flood disaster would get far worse as South Africa's military-led rescue operation in Mozambique ran out of funds. The United Nations WFP said if South African helicopters stopped plucking people from trees and rooftops more lives would be lost in the aftermath of catastrophic flooding that has hit the region over the past three weeks. "We are getting reports throughout the day from our staff in flood affected areas begging us to send more helicopters so that we can save more lives," Michele Quintaglie, a WFP spokeswoman said. Aid officials said South Africa, using five helicopters and three light planes, had spent up to $3 million in ten days, and a Mozambican government contract to pay for further rescue services had run out of money. After South Africa's $3 million was spent, Mozambique agreed to pay for a further week of rescue operations. That period expires tomorrow and unless someone comes up with further funds, the South African aircraft and helicopters would head home on Monday (February 28), officials said. Aid workers said agencies were pressuring Western donor nations to urgently come up with the money required. South Africa's deputy ambassador in Maputo, Eben van Rensburg, said the South African air force would be willing to stay on if donors came up with funds for the operation. The floods have left a trail of destruction and cut the main road between Zimbabwe and South Africa, paralysing a multi-million dollar trade link and cutting off South Africa from central Africa. South African police said 21 deaths had occurred over the past four days in the flood-hit northern and Mpumalanga provinces, raising the total death toll to 76 over the past three weeks. In Zimbabwe, officials put the national death toll at 29 and 12 others were missing. Officials say 250,000 people have been left homeless in Zimbabwe. Quintaglie said cases of malaria had doubled in Mozambique, where some 800,000 people are affected by the worst floods in 50 years. South African police spokeswoman Ronel Otto said border posts with Botswana, Zimbabwe and Mozambique had been closed and dams in South Africa's northern region were at full capacity with waters still rising. Quintaglie said more flood water was expected in Mozambique in the next few days from Zimbabwe and South Africa. Rivers in the region burst their river banks as "Cyclone Eline" swept west from Mozambique, bringing new rains to lands already waterlogged by two weeks of storms. In Botswana, Zimbabwe, Mozambique and northern parts of South Africa, roads and bridges have been washed away and power and phone lines have been knocked out.

26 February 2000 – Airlifts of emergency supplies to Mozambicans made homeless by floods had to be suspended this morning as a new surge forced exhausted helicopter crews to fly rescue missions instead. Five South African military helicopters scrambled at dawn to begin lifting to safety thousands trapped by rising water in the Chokwe district north of Maputo, a spokesman at Maputo airport said. The same helicopters have been flying almost daily for three weeks to help Mozambique cope with its worst floods in more than 30 years. United Nations WFP spokeswoman Michele Quintaglie said calls for help started coming in around 02.00, local time, as the Limpopo River began to rise much faster than expected. "The situation sounds extremely critical. People are desperate for rescue," she said. "We cannot continue to get the food aid out because all the helicopters will have to be dedicated to search and rescue operations today."

27 April 2000 – Mozambique's agony escalated early today when the Limpopo River burst its banks shortly after midnight, sending thousands of people into trees and onto rooftops for the second time in two weeks. By late afternoon, exhausted helicopter crews were still plucking whole families from roofs, trees and telephone poles around the floodplain town of Chokwe, north of Maputo. Michelle Quintaglie of the United Nations World Food programme said air co-ordinators needed experts to study the flood patterns and predict where help would be needed next. Flood waters that killed about 50 people in South Africa's northern provinces and Zimbabwe on Friday and yesterday reached central Mozambique earlier than expected today. Red-brown water stretched to the horizon in every direction from Chokwe with only the conical thatched roofs of traditional huts and the corrugated iron roofs of houses in the town marking streets and farms. One helicopter plucked 22 people off a single roof. Another counted 100 children rescued by midday. Airlift co-ordinator Colonel Jacobus Klopper said the five helicopters had rescued at least 1,800 people, mainly children, by the time failing light forced them back to Maputo. They left hundreds still stranded on roofs and in trees as the waters continued to rise. There were no confirmed deaths today, but one Mozambican aid worker said she saw bodies floating in Chokwe before dawn.

28 February 2000 – Mozambique warned today that a wave of water moving down the swollen Limpopo River threatened to engulf a new area as aid agencies hunted for more helicopters and boats to rescue victims from trees and roof tops. Mozambique's water authority said people living in the Xai-Xai district north-east of Maputo should move to higher ground as the wave of water which inundated the Chokwe district at the weekend moved towards the coast. "We expect the levels to rise very fast towards Xai-Xai. People have to get to higher and higher ground because the situation is getting worse," said Olinda Sousa, head of the technical unit of Mozambique's regional water authority. Sousa also warned that another wave of fresh water from Botswana and Zimbabwe would hit the already ravaged central and southern regions of Mozambique in the next three to four days. At least 350 people have died, more than 650,000 have been made homeless and crops vital for surviving the coming winter have been swept away in Mozambique, South Africa, Zimbabwe and Botswana in three weeks of flooding. Aid agencies, which are desperately looking to hire private helicopters and boats from the region, appealed for more help. "This is a situation which is getting out of control," said Michelle Quintaglie, a UN WFP official. "It is very upsetting. The response is far too slow right now. This is not the response that we saw in Kosovo or in East Timor," she said. "We have people whose lives are on the line." Quintaglie said rescue teams were having to make tough choices about who to save because of the lack of resources. Commonwealth Secretary-General Emeka Anyaoku appealed to the organisation's leaders to help the rescue operation. British International Development Secretary Clare Short said there were only nine helicopters deployed at present, of which just three were equipped to winch people or goods off the ground. "We are doing all we can to make available extra helicopters and boats," Short told Britain's parliament. "The problem isn't money, it's deploying on the ground." Short said Britain, which has given £600,000 to pay for helicopters and boats, had pledged a total of £2.2 million so far to help overall emergency operations. Five South African helicopters rescued 2,100 people from the Chokwe district today after rescuing 2,120 people yesterday. "As water levels are continuing to rise, those unable to get to higher ground are at risk of drowning. The first priority is to try to get as many people to safety as possible and to get food, water and blankets to those who are safe, but isolated," the Mozambique National Disaster Institute said in a statement. A Mozambique national radio broadcast appealed for private boat owners to help ferry people from shrinking islands, roofs, trees, power and telephone poles to high ground. Britain's Oxfam charity said it was trying to get five rubber boats into the country to help with rescues, but so far the only vessels seen at work were local wooden ferries. "Many people have been taking refuge on top of buildings or in trees and have reportedly been there for a number of days now. The health situation of these people is extremely serious," the disaster institute said. Tens of thousands of people are still awaiting rescue, some after up to four days without food or rest. In Zimbabwe, President Robert Mugabe came under attack for concentrating resources on the war in the Congo, where he has deployed a third of his army to help fight rebels, instead of deploying adequate troops and helicopters to the rescue. The floods have made 250,000 people in Zimbabwe homeless. By today the country had recorded 62 deaths from the disaster, including 33 from a bus that plunged off a flooded bridge. Zimbabwe's civil protection division said helicopters were trying to rescue hundreds of people marooned in Manicaland and Chiredzi which border Mozambique. The Johannesburg Star newspaper reported that families in South Africa's flood-devastated Northern Province had been forced to keep corpses in their houses after torrential rains cut them off from mortuaries and hospitals.

29 February 2000 – President Joaquim Chissano toured flooded areas of Mozambique today and made an urgent appeal for more helicopters to save thousands trapped on rooftops and trees by rising flood waters from drowning. "The situation in the Limpopo Valley is worsening," Chissano said after flying over the flooded town of Xai-Xai and other badly affected areas early today. "Only helicopters can help people who are hanging on the top of the houses…there are people who are on the roofs of huts, in the trees waiting for rescue." Chissano said he also flew over the swollen Incomati River and saw many corpses in the water below. He said his hard-pressed southern African country needed more help from the outside world as it braced for a fresh flood wave expected later today in the Xai-Xai district north-east of the capital Maputo. Aircraft supplied by the South African Air Force have rescued about 4,000 people since Sunday (Febuary 27), but officials said thousands more were stranded. UN World Food Programme spokeswoman Michelle Quintaglie said the death toll was currently estimated at around 150, but had not been updated for days and was probably much higher. Quintaglie said rescue teams were having to make tough choices about who to save because of the lack of resources. UN World Food Programme official Nicholas Lamade said two more helicopters and aircraft would arrive later today to ferry supplies to camps set up for 400,000 people made homeless in the past month of floods and cyclones. The supplies included food and medicine to cope with rampant malaria. Mozambique's water authority has warned people living in the Xai-Xai area to move to higher ground as flood waters which inundated the Chokwe district at the weekend moved toward the coast. The authority also warned that a fresh flood wave from Botswana and Zimbabwe would hit the already ravaged central and southern regions of Mozambique in the next few days. Three weeks of flooding in Mozambique, South Africa, Zimbabwe and Botswana have killed 350 people, made 650,000 homeless and swept away crops vital for surviving the coming winter. A Mozambique national radio broadcast appealed for private boat owners to help ferry people from shrinking islands, roofs, trees and power and telephone poles to high ground. The British charity Oxfam said it was trying to get five rubber boats into the country to help the rescue effort, but so far the only vessels seen at work are local wooden ferries.

South African sugar producer Illovo Sugar said today heavy flooding had damaged cane at the company's operation in Mozambique. "I expect there is damage to the cane and that there will have to be replanting for harvest early next year," Illovo managing director Don MacLeod said after an inspection of the company's 4,500 hectare Maragra estate. "I went there and all I saw was a huge expanse of water and no cane. But I have been told this morning that the waters are dropping and the tops of the cane can be seen," MacLeod said in a telephone interview from the company's Durban offices. Specialists were on site to determine how best the water could be pumped off the fields and how to prevent another breach of the six-metre high dykes between the estate and the Incomati River. He said the mill, in which Illovo has a 50 percent stake, had not been affected because it was on an escarpment above the delta plains where the farms are located.

1 March 2000 – Western donors poured aid and equipment into Mozambique today to assist an estimated 100,000 people still trapped by rising flood waters, but President Joaquim Chissano said his country needed more. Helicopters continued to pluck survivors from roofs and trees in the south, where the Limpopo River has spread in places to a breadth of 125km. Dead cattle floated in the swirling muddy waters and survivors said many people had given up the fight after up to five days clinging to trees and roofs and had drowned. One rescue flight dropped a medic into a tree to help a woman give birth and then plucked her and the infant to safety. Chissano thanked donors for their help today, but said it was not enough to prevent massive loss of life amongst survivors of the floods. "The figure is difficult to quantify, but we speak of 1 million people on the move at the moment," he said, adding that water released from the Kariba dam on the border between Zambia and Zimbabwe would arrive soon and could escalate the crisis. "Supplies are still arriving very slowly and in small quantities," he said, adding that many lives remained at risk. Mozambique's National Disaster Management Institute said continuing flows into the Cahorra Bassa dam as well as further rains would push water levels higher by the end of the week. "We have received a number of reports that between tomorrow and Sunday, there will be another wave of water coming down from Botswana, South Africa and Zimbabwe," Brenda Barton, a spokeswoman for the WFP said. Floods that began four weeks ago have killed at least 350 people in Mozambique, South Africa, Zimbabwe and Botswana and have made at least 650,000 homeless. In the south-western Zambian districts of Sinjembela and Imusho, heavy rains hit about 9,000 Angolan refugees stuck at the border today. "The rains have made life very difficult," said Zambian Foreign Affairs Minister Keli Walubita. "In parts of Sinjembela, you probably require tractors to move supplies. It's hard." The US embassy said Washington was sending an additional seven man team to co-ordinate further US help to Mozambique. The UN had also sent back an expanded team of its disaster evaluation experts to co-ordinate the relief effort, particularly the air rescue operations. Aid workers say Mozambique's flood is the country's worst disaster in living memory and diseases, including malaria and cholera, are likely to take hold as soon as the waters recede. Officials in Chokwe, where the flooding peaked earlier this week, report malaria running at four times the normal rate.

2 March 2000 – Representatives of several African governments will meet in South Africa tomorrow to develop a regional approach to the disastrous flooding that has hit Mozambique and neighbouring countries, Secretary General Kofi Annan said today. Annan said he had spoken by phone with Mozambique's President Joaquim Chissano and other leaders in trying to seek assistance for the region. "We have mobilised the UN system and have also begun very seriously raising money. We have got some response but the response could have been better," he added, without giving details. "There is going to be a meeting in Pretoria tomorrow, with participants from Mozambique, South Africa, Botswana and Zimbabwe, in an attempt to take a regional approach to the crisis, and we are working very closely with them," Annan said. He hoped that, once the needs were further clarified, the international community would respond, "and that those with the capacity to give will give, and give generously."

5 March 2000 – Western donors joined South African rescuers today to help Mozambique cope with the catastrophic aftermath of its worst flooding in memory but logistics were proving a nightmare. Aid agencies, government officials and rescue teams from South Africa, Germany, Britain, Spain and France were meeting later today to co-ordinate the aid effort. Work will be done to ensure that available resources are used efficiently to reach some of the worst affected people still stranded in the delta of the River Save, south of the second city of Beira, and to deliver emergency food supplies to as many as 500,000. "Today we are trying to get all our boats to the right areas," Royal Marines Captain John Read said. "There is still some rescuing to do at the mouth of the river Save. There are people trapped on islands in the delta. Some of them don't want to leave because the waters are going down and others are afraid of the helicopters," he said. South African Air Force officials said ferrying fuel supplies by air to centres cut off by the floods was also a problem as most incoming Western aircraft were not built to operate in rugged and remote terrain. "With the amount of helicopters you have it's going to be a logistical nightmare to get in the fuel that's needed," said Brigadier-General John Church. The British said the shortage of fuel supplies could prove problematic and the Germans said the abundance of aircraft was the biggest concern. The South Africans have been operating alone in the country's central and southern provinces since February 11, rescuing more than 13,000 people trapped in trees and on rooftops by rising flood waters, and delivering food aid. A French naval officer said two French warships would shortly dock in Maputo, bringing six helicopters and 800 men. France will shore up the South African search and rescue operations today with three choppers that will comb the Limpopo Valley to evacuate up to 800 people still stranded. Most are out of immediate danger as they are on pockets of high ground. However, some have not eaten for a week. The WFP's Davies told CNN today that up to 500,000 people were in need of immediate food aid. Mozambique has not updated its official estimate of 150 dead for more than a week. Most believe that, once the flood waters have receded further, thousands of bodies could be buried in the thick mud. Killer diseases like cholera and malaria will then become the biggest concern.

6 March 2000 – A multinational relief operation is pumping aid into Mozambique as thousands of displaced people search for their relatives and others find their homes reduced to mud by receding floods. British, German and French military helicopters have joined the small squadrons from South Africa and Malawi which have borne the brunt of the relief effort since mid-February. Three aircraft from Spain are due to arrive in South Africa today. Helicopters have pulled more than 13,000 people from roofs and trees in the last week but shifted their attention this weekend (March 4-5) to delivering food and medicine as the waters receded. Camps offering basic facilities and medical care to tens of thousands of refugees are now home to hundreds of children who have either lost or been separated from their parents. South African military officials said the situation in the devastated Limpopo valley in the south of the country was now under control, and they were not overly concerned that sluice gates on a dam on the Zambezi had been opened. A cyclone which had threatened more rain was downgraded to a tropical depression, although meteorologists warned the system could still dump fresh rain on Mozambique. Maputo's normally empty airport was busier than ever in its history servicing dozens of aircraft while hundreds of cargo crates packed with tents, blankets, water sanitation equipment and medical supplies piled up on the runway. President Joaquim Chissano has said his country would need help for months to come and aid worth at least $250 million. Relief workers have warned that malaria and cholera could claim more than the number who perished in swirling flood waters. The USA is in the process of setting up a base for about 500 soldiers at Hoedspruit on the South African side of the border and two giant C-5 transporters and two smaller C-130 cargo aircraft are due to land there today. "Once they are all into Hoedspruit, the helicopters will start moving into Mozambique. We may go as early as tomorrow to Beira," said a spokesman for the US mission, Mike Young. The UN WFP estimates there are 50,000 people in its camps in southern Mozambique. A third of the staple maize crop has been destroyed and many of the nation's cattle are dead or dying. In Chokwe, about 200km north of Maputo, where the worst flooding hit a week ago, stunned survivors saw the full extent of the devastation as the flood waters began to recede. Fields around the town were clogged with mud. Maize which had been almost ready to harvest had turned brown and rotted. Mozambique has not updated its official estimate of 150 dead for more than a week, but most believe that once the flood waters have receded further, thousands of bodies could be found buried in the mud.

7 March 2000 – A multinational force of helicopters and boats spread across Mozambique today under the threat of more rain, in a race to deliver badly needed food and medicines to the stricken country. Foreign military officials said up to 50 helicopters would be in the skies and 100 boats would be deployed today as weather experts warned that more rain was on its way, although not on the scale that had earlier been predicted. "The cyclone has dissipated although we expect it to affect the weather in Sofala, Inhambane and Gaza provinces. Rainfall will be recorded in these areas, but not as heavy as we had earlier anticipated," a Maputo weather forecaster said. The UN WFP said it was urging Mozambicans in the flood areas not to return home just yet. Western donors have pledged a total of $78 million to help rebuild Mozambique's shattered infrastructure. President Joaquim Chissano asked the West on Sunday (March 5) to write off his nation's existing $8.3 billion external debt and provide aid totalling $250 million.

9 March 200 – About 2 million people are thought to have been affected by the devastating floods in Mozambique as heavy rain again hinders the relief operation. Aid workers are desperately struggling to get food and clean water to the hundreds of thousands that need it. The fresh rains, with more forecast, have forced the suspension of some aid helicopter flights but the WFP says it still expects to deliver its daily target of 100 tonnes of food. One of the new concerns is the 2 million landmines laid during the 17 years of civil war that might have been dislodged by the floods. Officials confirmed that 212 people had been killed so far. They say this figure is likely to rise substantially. The new rains are not expected to affect the flood waters, which have been receding since Friday (March 3), and ironically they could bring much-needed fresh water. Relief workers hope the recent arrival of US heavy lift helicopters and reconnaissance aircraft will increase the range and scope of relief delivery. US troops will begin by identifying "hot spots" where people are in need. They will also identify road and rail breaks that can be repaired quickly, so aid deliveries no longer have to rely almost solely on air lifts. The receding waters are now beginning to reveal the true extent of the physical damage – huge chunks of roads and key infrastructure have been washed away. Correspondents say they could take months or even years to repair. Thousands of families were torn apart by the floods – in some cases desperate parents handed their children to safety on helicopters that had no room for the adults. Many have since been reunited, but relief workers say between 500 and 1,000 children have still not been claimed. Meanwhile, the UN Children's Fund, Unicef, has launched an immunisation programme to help protect children against measles and meningitis. It is also reported that thousands of people have contracted malaria from the swarms of mosquitos breeding in the stagnant flood waters. However, fears of a cholera epidemic have not been realised.

Torrential rain forced the suspension of aid efforts for 250,000 displaced people in flood-ravaged Mozambique today and delayed a search for 20,000 reported stranded in the west of the country. A senior UN official took off on a reconnaissance flight to verify a report that the 20,000 had been stranded by floods near the town of Mabalane, 350km north-west of Maputo, but heavy rain forced the flight to turn back. "The aircraft tried to fly twice but because of the bad weather could not go. We will try again tomorrow morning, but that will depend on the weather," said Rosa Malango of the UN Humanitarian Office. Aviation authorities at Maputo airport said military commanders had recalled all civilian and military aircraft due to poor visibility as the rains gathered momentum. Government officials said fresh rains had knocked down telecommunication links in central and southern Mozambique and aid agency officials said they feared rivers that had started receding would rise again. As people began to wade back to their homes, aid agencies appealed to the displaced to remain in refugee camps rather than risk becoming stranded once again. "The weather forecast is that rains will continue through to March 12 in Sofala, Inhambane and Maputo provinces and this is bad news for the country," government spokesman Antonio Macheve told a news conference. "So far we have 1.9 million people affected by the disaster. This includes those indirectly affected by the floods, those who have seen their crops and animals destroyed," Macheve added. In the town of Palmeira, outside Maputo, some foreign military helicopters had to make emergency landings due to the rains and heavy cloud cover. At Maputo airport, a witness counted 30 aircraft grounded due to bad weather. "We have grounded most flights today because of the bad weather," South African commander Lieutenant-Colonel Jaco Klopper said, adding that the rains and cloud cover hindered flights beyond a 20km radius outside Maputo. Brenda Barton of the UN WFP said the bad weather had prevented the planned delivery of 90 tonnes of food to people desperately in need of it.

10 March 2000 – The international airlift for victims of Mozambique's disastrous floods resumed today as skies cleared partially after 36 hours of torrential rain. "They have given us all permission to go," Royal Air Force loadmaster Neil Littlewood said as helicopters from Britain, South Africa, Belgium and Spain fired up their engines and loaded food and medical supplies for stranded communities. Aid workers said the first priority would be to get food, safe water and medicines to the 64 refugee camps trying to care for more than 240,000 people forced to leave their homes. Lindsey Davies of the UN WFP said eight helicopters had also left a distribution centre at Palmeira, about 10km north of Maputo, and would deliver eight tonnes of food to Gaza Province. The aircraft were expected to resume the search for an estimated 8,000 people reported stranded close to the border with South Africa. Torrential rains earlier forced the suspension of aid flights for a second day. All helicopters and aircraft at Maputo Airport were grounded. Forecasters say rain could continue until Sunday (March 12). Vehicles stranded by flooding brought traffic in central Maputo to a standstill. Reports that a group of 20,000 stranded refugees was on the move north of Maputo were contradicted by a French Catholic priest who said he walked for five days from a remote village to get aid for stranded people. Jean-Pierre Le Scour said about 8,000 people were stranded by flood waters near the town of Mabalane, about 350km north-west of Maputo on the northern bank of the swollen Limpopo River. Government officials said rain had knocked down telecommunication links in central and southern Mozambique and aid agency officials feared rivers that had started receding would rise again.

11 March 2000 – Relief agencies and helicopter crews used all available daylight hours today in their scramble to get food and shelter to the victims of Mozambique's floods before more rain fell. Military helicopters from Spain, South Africa, Germany and Britain took full advantage of a break in the bad weather which had disrupted relief missions yesterday. The South African Weather Bureau forecast heavy rain or thunder showers around the hard-hit Beira area tomorrow. Commander Leslie Coupland of British fleet replenishment vessel Fort George, said the Royal Navy had forecast rainfall of 100-200 percent more than average over the next five to ten days to the west of Madagascar, which has also been hit hard by the rains, and over central and southern Mozambique. "It may not increase the flooding, but it could stop the waters receding," he said. The government estimates that close to a million people have been displaced and more than 200 killed by a month of flooding that has devastated a country which was just starting to recover from 16 years of civil war. The aid effort was expected to receive a boost with the deployment of US heavy-lift helicopters and cargo aircraft which have been based in South Africa. British forces arrived in Mozambique's second city of Beira today to add their weight to the relief. Four British helicopters have operated out of Maputo for a week. Aid workers are attempting to ward off potential outbreaks of malaria and cholera caused by contaminated water.

13 March 2000 – The death toll from Mozambique's month-old floods leapt to almost 500 today as flood waters receded. With the focus beginning to shift away from day-to-day crisis relief, the WFP said it would launch an appeal later today to see 650,000 Mozambicans who have lost homes and crops through the next half-year. "About 55,000 tonnes of food is needed over the next six months," said WFP spokeswoman Lindsey Davies. She said some of the money would be used to mend roads washed away by the floods as the mission could not be sustained with helicopters alone. The Mozambique National Disaster Institute said 492 bodies had now been recovered from the receding waters. But aid workers said they feared the toll would rise into the thousands as disease spreads amongst refugees crammed into overcrowded camps. Aid agencies said some roads were now gradually being reopened. "It's very good news for us. For the past week we have been restricted to helicopters which can only carry a limited amount. The roads are a vital lifeline," Davies said. Ian Macleod, a spokesman for the United Nations children's fund, UNICEF, said its vehicles had been able to drive from Maputo to the hard-hit towns of Chokwe and Chiaquelane north of the capital. "More rain is expected. We're using the current break in the weather to make sure there is a cushion of food available," Davies said. The South African Weather Bureau today forecast three more days of rain over the flooded central and southern Mozambican regions. It also forecast heavy rain around Beira, the second city, and Quelimane, north-east of Beira.

13 March 2000 – Mozambican President Joaquim Chissano said today the death toll from a month of flooding had moved into the hundreds while aid agencies warned it could rise far higher. Chissano said in Maputo that "several hundred" people had died as the flood waters swept through the land more than three weeks ago covering vast swathes and trapping hundreds of thousands of people. "The waters are going down … corpses are still being found," Chissano said, declining to be drawn on a specific death toll. "We still have to wait." The known direct death toll from the deluge in Mozambique leapt to almost 500 today as the waters receded. However, aid workers expected even more victims to be uncovered, not counting those dying from disease such as the around 500 reported by one Red Cross worker to have succumbed in Chiaquelane refugee camp since it was erected last month. The Mozambique National Disaster Institute said 492 bodies had been recovered, the formal count from the impoverished nation's overstretched local authorities. Meanwhile the South African Weather Bureau forecast three more days of rain over inundated central and southern Mozambique. It also forecast heavy rain around Beira, the second city, and Quelimane, north-east of Beira. Aid agencies fear the dead will number well into the thousands as more bodies are found and diseases such as malaria and cholera take hold in overcrowded refugee camps. "I fear the death toll could be horrendously high … lots of people who were swept away by the flooding are only now able to be recovered," said Kate Horne with Oxfam International. The UN-affiliated WFP launched a $34 million appeal to help through the next six months the 650,000 Mozambicans who have lost homes and crops. "About 55,000 tonnes of food is needed over the next six months," said WFP spokeswoman Lindsey Davies. Aid agencies said roads were gradually reopening – a crucial help with more rain forecast. A truck can carry around 15 tonnes of supplies, three times as much as a helicopter, at a fraction of the cost per trip. "It's very good news for us. For the past week we have been restricted to helicopters which can only carry a limited amount … the roads are a vital lifeline," Davies said.

14 March 2000 – Disease and malnutrition threaten yet more misery for thousands of survivors of Mozambique's disastrous floods, international aid agencies said today. Aid workers said young children were suffering acute malnutrition and if seeds were not brought in and planted quickly a food crisis loomed in the months to follow. In the town of Chokwe, 190km north of the capital Maputo, mothers and babies queued for urgent medical attention to remedy malaria and diahorrea. Children, weakened mothers and the elderly could be the next victims of Mozambique's biggest natural disaster, which the government says has killed 492. Aid agencies fear this toll is an interim estimate and that the number of dead will grow. Many people are still without food despite a major airlift by a multinational helicopter fleet. Aid workers concede privately that the food has not always got into the right hands in the rush to get supplies to people ravaged by the former Portuguese colony's worst natural disaster.

16 March 2000 – Fresh rains threatened flood relief operations in Mozambique today, damping optimism raised by the easing of the country's foreign debt burden. The outlook improved for the flood-ravaged southern African country after yesterday's decision by the Paris Club of foreign creditor nations to defer all its debt servicing payments pending a global accord to cancel the country's debt. But rain which fell heavily in some southern regions on Wednesday and continued for a fourth day in the north around Maputo today presented serious logistical problems for the international relief effort, aid workers said. The Paris Club's decision should free up funds for Mozambique to begin the massive task of rebuilding towns, roads and railroads devastated by a month of flooding. It has been paying more than $1 million per week on its $8.3 billion debt. In addition to the debt relief, Japan donated $4.65 million today for rebuilding 15 bridges and for the purchase of rice. But aid workers said a major road from Beira to Save, in a badly affected region, along which aid teams carried up to 50 tonnes of food a day, was closed because of the rain. The road was unlikely to reopen for another week, the WFP said, and only if the rain stopped. Most countries involved in airborne relief efforts have said they would continue for about two weeks. Time is now running out and logistics experts are worried that complications will arise if the air relief is reduced. Britain extended yesterday funding for five helicopters to remain in operation, but Germany has said its operations may be scaled back by the end of the week. The Americans say they plan to stay for at least two more weeks. South Africa says it will stay as long as needed.

18 March 2000 – Helicopters flew over flood-ravaged Mozambique today, in search of thousands of people stranded by rising rivers swollen by fresh overnight rains. Some 10,000 people were stranded on islands around the southern town of Chibuto in Gaza province, aid workers said. Thousands also needed to be evacuated from the town of Buzi in the central province of Sofala after local rivers burst their banks, they said. A sixth day of rains added to the torment for more than 300,000 Mozambicans in resettlement camps before returning to their villages and towns. Malaria, diarrhoea, bronchitis, conjunctivitis and acute malnutrition among children has swept through the camps. Life for Mozambicans hit by the floods remained a struggle. In the town of Chokwe in southern Mozambique people fought to clean their soaked homes from mud deposited by flood waters which put the area under eight feet of water. In neighbouring South Africa, renewed heavy rainfall washed away roads in the eastern KwaZulu-Natal province.

20 March 2000 – A river in northern Mozambique burst its banks after a week of torrential rain, adding to the devastation caused by weeks of floods in other parts of the impoverished south-east African country. The flooded Messalo River in Gabo Delgado province severed the main road 70 miles from the Tanzanian border yesterday, said Silvano Langa, head of the country's national disaster management agency. "To my knowledge no lives are at immediate risk, but crops have been lost," he said. No further details of the extent of the damage were immediately available. Langa expected the level of the normally tiny river to subside as soon as the rains stopped. He said that until then people living north of the river would be cut off from the rest of the country. Langa said rising water levels in the central Save and Buzi districts – already hard hit – were again a cause for concern, but because most people already evacuated their homes for higher ground last month, not many people were thought to be at risk. There were also worries about rising flood waters in the southern Limpopo and Komati river basins after heavy rains fell along the rivers' upstream reaches in neighbouring South Africa. The South African Weather Bureau forecast more light showers over Mozambique and neighbouring countries to the west before an expected clearing on Wednesday (March 22). The news came as the British military began a phased withdrawal of helicopters flying aid to hundreds of thousands of flood victims in southern Mozambique. Aid agencies hope to secure commercially owned helicopters and aircraft to deliver food as other foreign militaries scale down their relief operations. While trucks were increasingly being used to get food to an estimated 360,000 flood victims housed in aid camps, helicopters were still needed in areas where roads washed away by the floods made movement of relief supplies impossible.

20 March 2000 – President Joaquim Chissano has said that $250 million would be needed to cope with the immediate aftermath of nearly a month of floods that killed hundreds of people and displaced 300,000. He said a report, to be presented to an international conference of donors on April 26-27, would request humanitarian assistance up to November, in addition to funds and expertise. So far around $118 million has been pledged to help the recovery, and economists believe that the country could manage growth of 4 percent this year if it receives enough aid. The official death toll from flooding has been put at 492 so far, but a government spokesman said the figure may rise. Aid agencies fear that the number will soar once waters have subsided and more bodies are found. Foreign Minister Leonardo Simao declined to quantify the scale of damage to infrastructure, but said floods had destroyed crucial farmlands for subsistence farmers in isolated communities. There is a need to continue humanitarian assistance to Mozambique until the harvest begins in October/November, he said. Some 123,000 families had been hit by the loss of 140,000 hectares of farmland, according to government figures. The WFP has begun a food-for-work programme in association with the government to repair over 1,000km (625 miles) of dirt roads to ferry large amounts of aid by road, spokeswoman Abby Spring said. Some 450,000 people are being housed in 100 camps for displaced people, she added. Simao said it was crucial that local skills were used to repair infrastructure.

27 March 2000 – The US military contingent aiding flood-ravaged Mozambique will withdraw from the region this week as international flood relief operations begin winding down, a US military spokesman said today. Germany and Malawi are also expected to pull out this week, taking with them helicopters and cargo aircraft that have been used to feed and shelter hundreds of thousands who fled their homes during the last month of heavy flooding. Aid workers, however, said aircraft were still needed. "We will begin pulling out in phases as commercial helicopters and aircraft take-over. Those aircraft will be cheaper than our stuff and it makes sense to switch to something more economical," US Air Force spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Tom Dolney said. He added that US aircraft, which had delivered more than 1.5 million pounds of cargo, would return to their bases in Germany and Britain. The USA has about 700 military personnel, six helicopters and nine fixed-wing aircraft and other logistical and support equipment in Mozambique and South Africa. The Germans and Malawians are expected to leave at the end of the week, said Peter Iskandar, a flight co-ordinator for the international relief mission. Aid workers said they were concerned. "Some roads are open, but there are other roads that are not. There are a lot of island locations that are still dependent on helicopters," said Aya Shneerson, spokeswoman for the WFP. The British withdrew their five Sea King helicopters from Mozambique's second city of Beira at the weekend, but were chartering five private helicopters to continue flying supplies to stranded communities and isolated refugee camps. "If there is a need for the helicopters then we will continue to pay for them and use them, but it is more cost effective to use a truck to transport aid," said Peter Bowles, the British vice-consul in Maputo. The South African Air Force, which won praise for its daring operations to rescue people from trees and rooftops during the worst of the flooding last month, is expected to decide tomorrow how much longer it would remain. Mozambique Foreign Minister Leonardo Simao said roads were being opened as the government continued emergency repairs and it was easier to truck aid to battered central regions. "There is an increased capacity to reach remote areas by road," he told aid groups at a briefing in Maputo. Simao said the government would provide affected communities with seed and tools to plant new crops. The UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation said in Rome it was appealing for $13 million to help 122,600 rural families to rebuild their livelihoods.

9 March 2000 – Antananarivo, Madagascar

Coffins and dead lemurs floated in the flood waters of northern Madagascar today as aid workers tried to reach remote villages cut off by rains which have killed at least 130 people. The government said nearly 750,000 people had been affected by the floods, which had left 10,000 people homeless and more than 12,000 stranded. "Many of the affected are children, and as we assess the situation further we will find more than 10,000 are homeless," said Sergio Soro of the UN's children's fund UNICEF in the capital Antananarivo. Many of the worst affected areas were completely surrounded by water and government aid agencies have carried out only rough assessments of the needs from the air. The government has asked aid agencies for food, medicines, and blankets, but it has yet to make a public appeal to the international community for help.

13 March 2000 – French military helicopters fanned out over Madagascar today and reported that damage was not as severe as had been feared. The island has struggled to overcome widespread flooding and the spread of disease since it was hit by two cyclones within the past three weeks. An estimated 150 people were killed in flood waters and mudslides when Cyclones "Eline" and "Gloria" ripped across the island. Homes and crops were destroyed by high winds and flood waters and many rural villages were cut off from the outside world as roads were swept away. A military spokesman said two French Puma helicopters would begin dropping food supplies into remote north-eastern Madagascar villages tomorrow. Relief workers said Madagascar will need help for months to come. Madagascar's government said nearly 750,000 of its people were affected by the floods. The UN has estimated that about 22,000 people need food and medicines immediately and up to 200,000 more will depend on food assistance in coming months because their crops of rice, cassava and maize have been lost.

15 March 2000 – A year-long cholera epidemic on Madagascar worsened as nearly 500 new cases of the disease were reported in recent days as floods washed over sections of this Indian Ocean island, officials said today. The new cases reported in the past three days – including 19 deaths – nearly doubled the previous daily infection rate during the epidemic, which has sickened 23,800 and killed 1,350. Water purification supplies, medical kits and food were being flown into flooded areas on board French helicopters and military aircraft. A transport aircraft and helicopter from a French military base on Reunion Island flew tons of food and supplies to the east and north-eastern coasts, said a spokesman for the UN WFP. Reconnaissance aircraft also carried small loads. However, heavy rains forced several aircraft from the French vessel Jeanne d'Arc to abort their mission to deliver aid to the north-east, the WFP said.

20 March 2000 – With relief efforts to Madagascar's north-east virtually finished, aid workers will now focus on the harder-hit and less accessible east coast, an official said. Stephane Catta, a spokesman for the French Embassy, said the French military was planning parachute food drops to assist tens of thousands of stranded people on the east coast. "In the north-east, the situation is not as bad as we feared," he said. "The situation is much worse on the eastern part of the island." The floods have destroyed 90 percent of farmers' rice fields and all the crops, said Jennifer Overton, a regional health officer.

28 March 2000 – Most flood victims in Madagascar are out of immediate danger and relief efforts now will focus on repairing damaged infrastructure and replanting ruined crops, aid workers said today. Meanwhile, the spread of year-long cholera epidemic has slowed with drier weather, according to the Health Ministry. It reported 70 deaths in the past week, half the levels of previous weeks. More than 1,500 people have died and 26,000 fallen ill since the start of the epidemic a year ago. UN WFP representative Salha Haladou said his organisation was beginning a four-to-six month programme to restore roads, dams, canals and buildings destroyed in the wake of two cyclones that swept over the island in mid-February and early March. About 130 people died and more than 40,000 lost their homes; 70 to 80 percent of crops were lost in the worst-hit areas. The storms damaged many of the main roads and bridges along the island's east coast. A report from the US Agency for International Development said there were no life-threatening situations in the flood-damaged areas, but food, medicines and water purification supplies will be needed in coming weeks.