Eloise leaves a sodden mess
Aerial video footage taken by the United Nations Children’s Fund shows widespread flooding in the Buzi area of Mozambique after the landfall of cyclone Eloise at about 2.30am last Saturday, with wind speeds of 160km/h. The worst of the storm’s winds are over, but flooding remains a major threat in the days to come. Gauteng has been warned over heavy rains because of Eloise.
Severe winds and heavy rains wrecked thousands of buildings, ruined crops and displaced almost 7 000 people in Mozambique over the weekend, officials said in their first detailed report on the disaster.
Tropical cyclone Eloise hit Mozambique’s Sofala coastal province on Saturday morning before weakening and heading inland to dump rain on Zimbabwe, eSwatini and South Africa.
Authorities initially said Eloise had only caused minor damage in Mozambique’s port city of Beira but that it was too early to gauge the full extent of the damage across the rest of the region.
On Sunday, Mozambique’s National Institute for Disaster Risk Management and Reduction (INGD) said investigations had shown Eloise had injured 12 people and displaced 6 859.
The region’s Buzi district had been particularly hard hit with wind speeds of up to 150km/h.
“Families are in urgent need of essential supplies like food, water, blankets and shelter,” Marcia
Penicela, project manager at ActionAid Mozambique said, speaking from Beira.
“With high flood waters and power lines down in Buzi, the challenge will now be reaching people most in need,” she added.
Eloise had ruined 136 755 hectares of crops, destroyed nine schools and damaged about 17 other schools and 11 hospitals, INGD said in a statement.
It had completely destroyed 1 069 houses, partially destroyed 3 343 and flooded another 1 500, the agency added.
Eloise later weakened and was downgraded to a tropical storm, according to the World Meteorological Organisation.
On Sunday it moved on from Zimbabwe to dump heavy rain on some areas Limpopo, Mpumalanga and KwaZulu-Natal, authorities there said. eSwatini was also experiencing rainfall.
“So far the highest amount that we’ve recorded is somewhere between 115-128 mm of rainfall in Limpopo, especially in the northeast,” ssaid Puseletso Mofokeng, a senior forecaster at the South African Weather Service.
Floods had hit the lowveld of Limpopo and Mpumalanga, and winds had blown the roofs off houses and knocked down trees, blocking roads, he said.
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