At least five people have died in Zambezia as bad weather hit the province, the secretary of state for the province in central Mozambique said on Tuesday.
The deaths were recorded in the Gurue region, which was the worst hit by the heavy rain that has been felt in the region since Monday, Christina Mafumo told reporters.
“According to preliminary data, at the moment we are also seeing collapses of residential buildings, in addition to five deaths. All multidisciplinary teams are on site and are conducting additional searches,” said Zambezia’s Secretary of State.
The source also said that due to the rainy season, the province is now experiencing cases of acute diarrhea, resulting in a total of 20 people being hospitalized.
Mozambique experiences cyclical flooding between October and April, a phenomenon justified by its geographical location, which is prone to the passage of storms and at the same time located downstream of most of South Africa’s river basins.
During the 2021/2022 rainy season, from October to April, natural disasters in Mozambique killed at least 134 people and affected more than 760,000, according to the INGD – National Institute for Disaster Management and Reduction.