Heroic flood rescue mission
Victims plucked to safety after deluge
FIVE people have died and thousands were affected in the first tropical storm to hit Southern Mozambique since 1984, authorities announced yesterday.
Tropical Storm Dando hit the southern African country from Sunday with gusts of up to 120km/h and rainfall of over 200mm. It has since dissipitated, leaving behind destruction and flooding. “In total the deaths amounted to five people,” said Dulce Chilundo, head of the National Emergency Operations Centre.
Three people died in Gaza province and two in neighbouring Maputo province.
“Three people were electrocuted, one person died when a tree fell on their house. Another was swept away when they tried to cross a river,” said Chilundo.
In Gaza, Dando flooded 3 766 houses, while 247 were inundated in the capital Maputo.
In three southern provinces 287 classrooms were left without rooftops.
“The INGC (National Disaster Management Institute) is giving food aid to 90 people in Gaza province and 510 in Maputo,” said Chilundo. Meanwhile in Mpumalanga and Limpopo, hundreds of people, including primary school children, which were left desti- tute and stranded by days of heavy rain and flooding, have been plucked to safety by air force and police helicopters.
The two-day high-risk aerial and ground rescue, which has developed into a humanitarian relief mission, was launched after rain deluged large sections of the eastern parts of the country and Mozambique earlier this week.
Rivers burst their banks, flooding large tracts of land in low-lying areas.
Pilots and aircrew from the SA Air Force’s 17 and 19 helicopter squadrons in Pretoria and Hoedspruit took off on Wednesday to lift scores of people to safety from parts of Limpopo, Mpumalanga and the Kruger National Park, where several tourists were washed away in their cars or trapped overnight.
The floods have left three people seriously injured and compelled authorities to shut the Kruger Park’s border posts.
Although flood waters began to subside yesterday, the airlifts and ground operations continued.
Police in Casspirs crossed flooded rivers repeatedly to reach trapped villagers, often bringing them across on the roofs of the armoured vehicles because of the height of the water, while civilians rescued people trapped in two buses.
Civilians used private helicopters and specialised off-road vehicles to rescue guests stranded at game lodges in and around the Kruger Park.
Air force spokesman Lieutenant-colonel Piet Paxton Paxton said the rescue missions had been intense. Pilots and aircrew went to the aid of 53 primary school children trapped by rising flood waters at their schools in the Acorn- hoek area of Bushbuckridge.
Six helicopters rescued people from trees, tops of buildings, stranded vehicles, partially submerged houses and land cut off by rising waters, he said.
“The airlift rescue, which had to be called off several times, has been extremely dangerous. Adverse weather condi- tions have made getting to some people very difficult. But, despite these trying conditions our aircrew have persisted in aiding as many people as possible.”
Paxton said the search and rescue mission had evolved into a humanitarian relief mission.
“We will now be lifting food and water supplies to villages in remote areas cut off because roads have been washed away.
Limpopo police spokeswoman Ronel Otto said that the province’s search and rescue teams had been activated. They included divers and K9 unit members.
More than 200 people had been rescued by police, air force and disaster management personnel and by civilians, Otto said.
Weather forecaster Edwin Thema said rains would continue in the Lowveld, with a 30 percent chance of rain today, but there was no chance of rain falling in Limpopo or Mpumalanga over the weekend.