In brief
Mozambique is experiencing catastrophic flooding described as the worst in a generation, displacing thousands and overwhelming emergency services. Rescue teams from Brazil, South Africa, and the UK are aiding local efforts to assist those in peril. With major rivers bursting their banks, many residents are still trapped in floodwaters, refusing to abandon their homes despite the dangers. Authorities fear the situation may worsen as heavy rains continue. Over 650,000 people have been affected, many left without food or shelter, while residents await government assistance and swift restoration of services.
Tens of thousands of people in Mozambique are being rescued as rising waters continue to devastate the southern African nation - the worst flooding in a generation.
Teams from Brazil, South Africa, and the UK have been helping with life-saving rescue operations.
For me, this is the first time I have experienced a calamity of this magnitude. Elders say a similar disaster took place in the 1990s, 24-year-old mechanic Tomaz Antonio Mlau says.
Mlau and his family, who live near Marracuene - a town 30km (19 miles) north of the capital, Maputo - woke up to find their house inundated after the Inkomati River burst its banks.
When a rescue boat came a few hours afterwards, we did not hesitate to board it and come to safety in Marracuene town, he said, adding they had to abandon all their belongings and only managed to bring a change of clothes.
Mlau, his wife, and two children have found refuge at one of six centres - schools and churches - that are so far sheltering about 4,000 people.
Many of those gathered at Gwazamutini Secondary School are farmers from the low-lying areas with livestock and rice fields.
We lost everything in the floodwaters, including houses, TV sets, fridges, clothing and livestock - cattle, goats, and pigs. Our farms are under water. I am a farmer. I grow quality rice, 67-year-old Francisco Fernando Chivindzi told me.
His home is in Hobjana, one of several flooded neighbourhoods between the left bank of the Incomati River and the coastal tourism resort of Macaneta. Marracuene town is on the river's right bank.
Mayor Shafee Sidat fears the situation is likely to get worse because of heavy rain in neighbouring South Africa, from where the Inkomati River originates.
We are concerned about water releases from a South African dam on the Inkomati River which would further inundate us. We might soon have more than 10,000 people affected in Marracuene, he said.
