Rescuers race to find missing from floods

MANHICA (AFP) — Rescuers in Mozambique clawed through thick mud and waded into waterlogged homes on Tuesday, racing to find survivors still unaccounted for after one of the country’s worst floods in decades.

At least 114 people have died since the rainy season began in early October, including 51 since Christmas Eve, when downpours intensified and sent torrents of river water crashing through several villages.

The United Nations says the surging waters have spiralled into a rapidly escalating emergency.

In the southern Maputo province, emergency crews flew over swathes of land swallowed by floodwaters, scanning for stranded residents and assessing the damage.

Footage shared by the National Disasters Management Institute (INGD) captured a helicopter hovering above an inundated house in neighboring Gaza province, lifting residents from the roof still visible above the floodwaters.

In another clip released by UNICEF, vast stretches of land in the same province had disappeared beneath a sheet of murky water, with a section of tarmac road torn away.

Six people remain missing in the country, according to INGD, although Maputo Governor Manuel Tule warned the number could change as assessments continue.

“We do not have conclusive data but we estimate that more than 36,000 people are affected in the province and about 13,000 are in accommodation centers,” he said.

“We still do not know exactly how many people need assistance.”

More than half a million people had been affected in the country of about 35 million, the UN said on Tuesday.

“The numbers keep rising as extensive flooding continues and dams keep releasing water to avoid bursting,” said Paola Emerson, head of Mozambique operations at the UN humanitarian agency OCHA.