The Pequenos Libombos Dam in Maputo province, southern Mozambique, could reach alert level as a result of increased inflows from upstream, the Southern Regional Water Administration (ARA-Sul) announced in a statement.
“The Pequenos Libombos dam continues to receive significant inflows from upstream and may increase its discharges in order to guarantee the operational safety of the infrastructure,” the press release said.
ARA-Sul says that controlled discharges are planned so as not to aggravate downstream impacts.
“Due to the prevailing situation, strong currents are expected and the crossing of the Umpala, Mafuiane and Mazambinine drifts and flooding on the banks of the lower reaches of the rivers will continue,” the statement said.
ARA-Sul is calling for precautionary measures to be taken on the Maputo and Umbelúzi rivers and for people and goods to be removed from the riverside areas, given the risk of being swept away by the force of the water.
With regard to the Incomati and Limpopo rivers, the organisation continues to monitor hydrological developments.
Since dawn on Saturday, Maputo province has been under heavy rain, with the downtown area of the capital and several neighbourhoods flooded, and the bad weather is expected to continue until Tuesday, the National Meteorological Institute told Lusa.
“This is the result of the combination of the hot weather we’ve had in recent days in the south of the country and the humidity. This combination generated this instability and this fall of precipitation. The volume of rainfall was around 150 millimetres in less than 24 hours (…),” meteorologist Telmo Sumila told Lusa.
The current rainy season in Mozambique, which begins in October, has already caused the deaths of a total of 135 people and affected another 116,334, according to a report consulted by Lusa on Thursday.
Mozambique is considered one of the countries most severely affected by global climate change, facing cyclical floods and tropical cyclones during the rainy season, which runs from October to April.
Lusa
