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Orange flood alert in Mozambique Tue, 17 Jan 2012 00:00 +0000
Source: Dartmouth Flood Observatory based on media analysis
The flood started on 1/17/2012 and ended on 2/14/2012 11:59:59 PM, with a duration of 29 days. This flood has severity class 2 (i.e. this is an extreme event with an estimated recurrence interval greater than 100 years).
The main cause is Tropical Storms Dando, Funso.
The alert score is based on the reported death and displaced. Red = 1000 or more people killed or 800000 or more people displaced. Orange = 100 or more people killed or 80000 or more displaced.
Reports indicate that 37 person(s) have been killed and 100000 have been displaced. No reports on damage have been found. The flood affected a region of approximately 269445.71 km2.
For the following locations damage has been reported: Southeastern Africa, Mozambique, Limpopo River, Kruger National Park South Africa
The approximate geographic location of this flood is -21.45 latitude and 34.07 longitude. This is the centroid of the affected area, as determined by the place names mentioned in the media.
February 8, 2012: "THOUSANDS of villagers have been forced to flee their homes after cyclone rains lashed a remote region of Malawi.Aid is being flown into Nsanje District, on the border with Mozambique after roads were cut-off during the deluge.Further rain is forecast as more than 6,000 people are housed in temporary shelters after their homes were swamped.Children?s charity Plan International is looking to raise £125,000 to help families with food, shelter and school kits.?Floods have disrupted livelihoods, displaced people, caused damage to infrastructure and brought misery to children and the community at large,? says Plan?s country director in Malawi, Bolaji Akinboro.?The government is getting overwhelmed by the ever-increasing numbers and magnitude of different emergencies that the country is facing.?A severe outbreak of malaria is a real fear for aid workers, prompting Plan to distribute 1,000 nets to families.The charity will also look to provide cereal, bed mats and school equipment in a bid to minimize disruption to children?s lives.?It?s a swampy area, thereby exposing children to various diseases, mainly malaria, as they have no insecticide treated nets for protection,? says Mr Akinboro.?Unfortunately, the medical supply is also low which might lead to an increase in diseases within the area.?For more information visit www.plan-uk.org" February 6, 2012: "The storms and flooding brought to southern and central Mozambique in January by tropical depression "Dando" and cyclone "Funso" resulted in a total of 37 deaths, according to a government assessment, approved on Thursday by the Council of Ministers (Cabinet).A further 41 people were injured, and an estimated 81,200 people were directly affected by the storms.About 20,000 houses were destroyed as well as 687 school classrooms and 29 health units.The government praised the speedy response of the population in the affected areas who "immediately took preventive measures in order to minimize the negative impact of the disasters, thus expressing a high sense of responsibility and self-esteem".The government adds that it "noted, with satisfaction, the effort made by relatives, communities, local governments, NGOs and civil society who committed themselves unreservedly to mitigate the immediate effects of the disasters". Such pro-active attitudes were "a basic condition for reducing the vulnerability of the population and fighting against absolute poverty".It also praised the dedication and commitment of such bodies as the national relief agency, the INGC (National Disaster Management Institute), the National Water Board (DNA), the National Roads Administration (ANE), the Local Disaster Risk Management Committees (CLGRC), and the armed forces (FADM), as well as the United Nations system which was "actively involved in the coordination mechanisms created by the government".Since the rainy season is far from over, the government urged people living near the major rivers to keep away from flood-prone areas, and to follow attentively all the warnings issued by the authorities" January 27, 2012: "At least 71 schools have been closed and children sent home after recent rains pushed up water levels in the North.The acting director of education in the Omusati Region, Loide Shatiwa, says 64 Omusati schools, mainly in Okalongo and Anamulenge circuits, were closed because children and teachers cannot cross the deep water in the oshanas.Initially 70 schools were closed in Omusati, but four have reopened. They are the Eengwena, Sheetekela, Elondo and John Shekudja primary schools.Ohangwena senior education planner Elifas Nakale says only two schools have so far been closed in that region while his counterpart in Oshana, Paulinus Enkono, says they have closed five schools. In the Ompundja and Uuvudhiya constituencies of Oshana, tents have been pitched at three schools for pupils to stay in.Enkono says the tent schools - Chief Ankama, Omulunga and Engombe - are in dire need of food.The Oshikoto Region is the only one where flood problems have not occurred at schools.Shatiwa says the education authorities in Omusati have not yet considered tent hostels at schools. They expect the floodwater to subside soon.Shatiwa says they already have plans for weekend classes to make up for the days lost during the closure.Addressing an Oshana Regional Disaster Risk Management Committee meeting on Wednesday, the region's governor, Klemens Kashuupulw,a rallied key players for a coordinated response to problems caused by floods.Kashuupulwa said the Oshana Regional Council has provided 70 tents to families relocated from the Oshoopala informal settlement to the Oshoopala Flood Victim Centre north of Oshakati.He said 154 households consisting of 506 people have been relocated to that centre so far. The regional authorities and the Office of the Prime Minister will provide them with food.Enkono said the people relocated to the Oshoopala centre so far were mainly kapana vendors who can no longer make a living due to the floods and must be assisted with food.Oshana Chief Regional Officer John Kandombo told Wednesday's meeting that they were running low on food for flood relief. They have only some bags of maize meal in stock, but no tinned fish or cooking oil.Both Kashuupulwa and Kandombo called on the Ministry of Health to send a team to the emergency centre to check on the health condition of the people and to isolate those with communicable diseases."About 5,000 people have fled their homes to escape floodwaters in southern Malawi, due to heavy rains from a deadly cyclone that is battering neighbouring Mozambique, authorities said Wednesday. Army helicopters and motorboats were deployed to the southern district of Nsanje, along the Mozambican border, to rescue marooned villagers.Nsanje has been "receiving heavy rains since mid-last week which has resulted in two big rivers to break their banks and flood scores of villages," district commissioner Rodney Simwaka told AFP by telephone. The Shire River, which flows out of Lake Malawi, and the Ruo, which originates from the picturesque Mulanje Mountain, have flooded following heavy rains caused by Cyclone Funso, a powerful Category 4 storm moving slowly through the Mozambican Channel.Simwaka said about 2,500 villagers fled to hills when the floods hit homes along the rivers. "Several thousands of people are still marooned in dry patches of land in the flooded villages," he said. Roads and bridges leading to Nsanje, 175 kilometres (110 miles) from the commercial capital Blantyre, had been washed away, cutting off 30 villages.He said the helicopter and engine boat operation to rescue the villagers started on Tuesday. Only 99 villagers have been flown to safety and were being housed in schools and churches where the government was distributing food and relief items. No deaths were reported, but hundreds of hectares of the maize fields were under water and scores of cattle, goats and chickens had been washed away, he added.The district is prone to floods every year and thousands of villagers defy government orders to move to higher land because they want to grow crops in river banks after the floods, which leave soil rich in silt. SAPA..Johannesburg - Five municipalities in the Ehlanzeni district of Mpumalanga have been declared disaster areas, a provincial official said on Friday.They are the Mbombela, Nkomazi, Umjindi, Thaba Chweu, and Bushbuckridge municipalities.Traditional affairs spokesperson Simphiwe Kunene said Premier David Mabuza had made the declaration after 1 452 households were damaged by storms and flooding between January 16 and January 19.Of these, about 330 households were severely affected - 130 in Bushbuckridge, 74 in Nkomazi, 59 in Mbombela, 40 in Umjindi and 27 in Thaba Chweu.Kunene said his department was helped by the department of social development and Ehlanzeni district municipality to provide food, blankets, and shelter to those affected.Seven deaths were recorded in the province during the flooding.Major infrastructure, including roads, bridges, schools, and agriculture installations, were also damaged in the extreme weather.The cost to repair infrastructure was estimated at R445.7m.Rebuilding roads and bridges would be the most expensive at an estimated cost of R266m.The provincial government provided just over R36m in the short-term and the municipalities contributed R25.7m towards rebuilding.Kunene said Mabuza would engage with the national government for the balance. January 6, 2011: "AFP Mozambique: Flooding from Tropical Storm Dando kills 5, displaces thousands...Reuters) - Flooding in southeast Africa this week has killed at least five people, forced thousands to evacuate homes in Mozambique and led to an airlift of about 20 foreign tourists at South Africa's flagship Kruger National Park, officials said Thursday.The damage was heaviest in Mozambique, which reported the deaths. Torrential rains swelled rivers, destroyed structures and caused more than 5,000 people to evacuate their homes in the southern provinces of Maputo, Gaza and Inhambane, weather officials said.Forecasts indicate more storms could be heading to the region, threatening farms and coal mines in Mozambique.Gates at Kruger have been closed to tourists after floods ripped up roads at the park that borders Mozambique.The tourists evacuated from Kruger included Americans and Canadians. They were plucked by helicopter to safety after a washed-out bridge left them isolated in the massive park."There wasn't any other way to get out of the park," said Canadian Linda Freeman.(Reporting by Lisa Laventure in Johannesburg and Willam Mapote in Maputo; Writing by Jon Herskovitz; Editing by David Dolan)"..Johannesburg - People living downstream of dams in Mpumalanga, Swaziland and southern Mozambique have been warned of more floods as dams overflow, the water affairs department said on Thursday. A disaster management team was in Mpumalanga to help local authorities restore basic services to flooded communities.Department spokesperson Linda Page said the Komati and Crocodile Rivers had risen substantially, but had not burst their banks.The Driekoppies Dam was overflowing while Maguga Dam, on the Komati River in Swaziland, was almost 100% full."Affected communities downstream of the dams are being warned to move to safety on higher ground," she said. Some families had already been evacuated.The Olifants river, on the border with Mozambique, was expected to reach its flood peak during the night or early on Friday."An alert has been issued to Mozambique warning of increased flow and possible flooding."The Sabie River at Kruger Gate was subsiding while the Komati River was flowing strongly, but not overflowing.
The Global Flood Detection System uses passive microwave remote sensing to observe surface water for large floods. Statistical anomalies in surface water are shown as red areas, which correspond roughly to the flooded area. Extreme rainfall also causes anomalies, but is masked by the yellow layer (TRMM rainfall).
Flash floods and landslides cannot be recorded by microwave remote sensing. These events are caused by extreme rainfall in susceptible mountainous areas. The map below shows the extreme rainfall recorded by the Tropical Rainfall Monitoring mission in the last 24h (mm/24h). More information.
While we try everything to ensure accuracy, this information is purely indicative and should not be used for any decision making without alternate sources of information. The JRC is not responsible for any damage or loss resulting from the use of the information presented on this website.
Information related to the flood has been collected from official and media reports by the Dartmouth Flood Observatory. The impact analysis is performed by the Joint Research Center of the European Commission.
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