A total of 6,200 customers in two districts of the central Mozambican province of Zambézia are without electricity due to torrential rains, state-owned company Eletricidade de Moçambique (EDM) said on Wednesday.
According to EDM data, torrential rains affected the electricity grid in the districts of Luabo and Chinde, causing power outages. The state-owned company said teams are on the ground restoring power as soon as weather conditions improve.
Since the beginning of the rainy season in October, including the January floods, there have been 153 deaths, 254 injuries and 844,372 people affected, according to data from the National Institute for Disaster Risk Management and Reduction (INGD).
On 16 January, the government declared a national red alert.
According to updated data, 77 accommodation centres are currently active, with 76,251 people. This update also shows that since 7 January, 229 health facilities, 316 schools, and five bridges have been affected.
The INGD record also points to 440,842 hectares of agricultural area affected, of which 275,405 are reported as lost, affecting the activities of 314,780 farmers, in addition to the deaths of 408,115 heads of livestock, including cattle, goats, and poultry.
The European Union, the United States, Portugal, Angola, Spain, Timor-Leste, Switzerland, Norway and Japan, as well as neighbouring countries, have already sent emergency humanitarian aid.
Source: Lusa