Man rescued from rising waters says it’s ‘worst in living memory’

Tens of thousands of people are being rescued in Mozambique as rising waters continue to devastate the southern African country in its worst flooding in a generation.

Rescue 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 disaster of this magnitude. Elders say similar disasters happened in the 1990s,” said Tomaz Antonio Mlau, a 24-year-old mechanic.

Mlau and his family live near Marracuene, a small town 30 kilometers (19 miles) north of the capital Maputo. They woke up to find their house submerged after the Incomati River burst its banks.

“When a rescue boat arrived a few hours later, we boarded it without hesitation and made it safely to the town of Maraquine,” he said, adding that they had to give up all their belongings and only brought a change of clothes.

Mlau, his wife and two children have found refuge in schools and churches in one of six centers that have housed about 4,000 people so far.

Many of the people gathered at Gwazamutini Secondary School were farmers from low-lying areas with livestock and rice fields.

“We lost everything in the floods, including houses, televisions, refrigerators, clothes and livestock – cows, goats and pigs. Our farm was flooded. I am a farmer. I grow good quality rice,” Francisco Fernando Chivindzi, 67, told me.

His home is in Hojana, one of several flooded communities between the left bank of the Incomati River and the coastal tourist resort of Macaneta. The town of Marracuene is located on the right bank of the river.

“The floods reached heights that we did not expect. We have never experienced flooding of this magnitude in our lifetime,” Chiwenzi said.

“We are happy to be on higher ground. However, we are very concerned that all our belongings will be forgotten.”

The farmer expressed his gratitude to the boat owners who came to help him and his neighbors for free and called on others to help themselves.

The father of nine said: “We heard that there are still some people who are resisting, climbing on treetops and rooftops. I hope they will listen to the rescuers and join us in this temporary shelter. We should value lives, not objects.”

Marracuene Mayor Shafee Sidat echoed these sentiments during a visit to Gwazamutini Secondary School on Saturday.

“We still have people who need to be rescued, some of whom refuse to abandon dangerous areas. It’s a challenge. We estimate more than 10,000 people are affected across Marracuene,” he told me.

At least 642,122 people have been affected by flooding since January 7, particularly in the southern and central regions, and 12 people have died so far, according to provisional data from the National Institute for Disaster Risk Management and Reduction.

A total of 125 people have died in Mozambique since the rainy season began in October.

Mayor Sidat fears the situation could get worse due to heavy rains in neighboring South Africa, where the Incomati River originates.

“We are concerned about the release of water from the South African dam on the Inkomarti River. Our town is the last dam downstream,” the mayor said.

“They flood ‘machambas’ (farmland), houses and pastures in low-lying areas before flowing into the Indian Ocean.”

Some aerial views show the water as far as the eye can see. Hundreds of families remain cut off from the outside world.

All vehicles are now banned from traveling on roads between Maputo province and the northern province of Gaza.

Transport Minister João Matlombe said this was because major roads, especially the N1 highway, which runs through the country and is the only access to the north, were flooded.

The suspension has led to shortages and rising prices for basic foods, commodities such as coconuts and fuel, as far away as the northwestern city of Tete, more than 1,500 kilometers from Maputo.

Food is also a challenge for people at the Malakune shelter.

“There’s not enough food to eat,” said Aninha Vicente Mivinga, whose children are 2 and 5 years old.

“On the first day of this Friday, there was almost nothing to eat. It was really distressing to see the children going to bed with nothing to eat except biscuits. Today the situation has improved,” she said.

Miwenga, a police officer who works on farms in her spare time, described being at work in the town of Maraquine when floods hit her home in Hojana.

Due to the continuous rain, the 32-year-old took her children to live with her family on higher ground, but even the children were affected by the rising water levels.

“I was devastated to learn that my children and other family members were in floodwaters and at risk of death. I was devastated,” the officer said.

“Eventually my relative was brought to safety.

“This is the first time since I was born that we’ve been affected by flooding from this dimension.”

Miwenga said students would resume classes soon and she hoped authorities would find permanent alternative accommodation for them.

Hundreds of people are currently camping out in classrooms, using traditional wraps as bedding.

“When the flood recedes, I believe everyone wants to go home, but it is too dangerous. It would be great if the authorities can give us another safer place. We will go back to the dangerous area just to farm but live in a safer place,” the police officer said.

Education Minister Samaria Tovela has already hinted that the cabinet will consider rescheduling the start of the 2026 academic year, originally scheduled to begin next week, “so that flood victims can continue to use them as accommodation centres, especially in the provinces of Maputo and Gaza, which are currently the most affected”.

Chiwenzi is unsure whether the floodwaters will recede before school resumes, but he is determined to return home.

“We will start our lives again from scratch,” the farmer said.

Unable to travel to the garage where he works, Mlaw is less certain about the future and the risks of starting over in the same place.

“Even if the water recedes, I’m not sure I’ll ever go back there.”