Around 55,000 families, institutions and businesses in Cabo Delgado and Nampula, northern Mozambique, are without electricity due to the collapse of dozens of poles in the transmission network, caused by rain and strong winds.
In a statement released today, the company Eletricidade de Moçambique (EDM) explains that “the rain and strong winds in the northern region” of the country “are causing damage to the electricity system, with situations of fallen poles, broken electrical cables and interruptions to the electricity supply”.
The same report states that at the moment, in Cabo Delgado province, 4,256 customers in the administrative posts of Namapa, Ocua and Alua “are without electricity, due to the fall of 39 poles in the Nacivare area”, in the district of Chiúre.
In Nampula province, meanwhile, two medium-voltage towers fell in the area of the Velho Faina cemetery, leaving 50,600 customers in the districts of Ribauè, Murrupula and Mecuburi, and in the Marere neighbourhood, without power.
“EDM’s technical teams are on the ground and on standby, intervening in the network to gradually restore the system. However, weather conditions and the inaccessibility of some locations have been major obstacles, influencing the delay in the work to restore the electricity system,” explains the company.
In another region of the country, the Mozambican meteorological services today warned of the formation of a severe tropical storm, forecasting that it will hit the centre and south of the country with gusts of up to 120 kilometres per hour (km/h) and very heavy rainfall.
“According to current projections, the system will continue to evolve and reach the stage of a severe tropical storm, conditioning the weather with very heavy rainfall, maximum winds of 85 km/h and gusts of up to 120 km/h (…) over the next 48 hours,” according to a statement from the Mozambican National Meteorological Institute (Inam).
The red warning in force, decreed on Sunday, now applies to the provinces of Inhambane (south) and Sofala and Zambézia (centre).
In the case of Sofala, in the districts of Machanga, Chibabava and Buzi, the forecast calls for rainfall equivalent to 200 mm/24h, thunderstorms, strong winds and gusts of up to 120 km/h.
“The tropical disturbance could evolve in the next few hours to the stage of a moderate tropical storm, approaching the coast of our country through the provinces of Sofala and Inhambane,” said Inam in its forecast for the next few hours, before it becomes a severe tropical storm.
“In view of the occurrence of strong winds, thunderstorms and very heavy rainfall, it is recommended that precautionary and safety measures be taken,” it warned.
Mozambique is considered one of the countries most severely affected by climate change in the world, facing cyclical floods and tropical cyclones during the rainy season, which runs from October to April.
The 2018/2019 rainy season was one of the most severe on record in Mozambique: 714 people died, including 648 victims of cyclones Idai and Kenneth, two of the biggest ever to hit the country.
In the first quarter of last year, heavy rains and the passage of Cyclone Freddy caused 306 deaths, affected more than 1.3 million people in the country, destroyed 236,000 homes and 3,200 classrooms, according to official government figures.
At the end of September, the President of Mozambique, Filipe Nyusi, called for the population and organisations to be prepared for the foreseeable effects of the ‘El Niño’ phenomenon on the country in the following months, with forecasts of above-normal rainfall and outbreaks of drought.
“History is repeating itself. So we have to create conditions of resilience. In this regard, the government will issue regular warnings to keep the population informed and prepared for weather conditions that may not be favourable to life, production or infrastructure,” he said.
Lusa
