Search and rescue operations were still underway in Mozambique following weeks of heavy rainfall that triggered devastating floods, submerging farmland, homes, and critical infrastructure.
“The rescue is ongoing,” said Marcia Cossa, Acting Executive Director of ActionAid Mozambique. She noted that access to many affected areas remains extremely difficult, particularly in Gaza province. “In some places, including parts of Manhica, we can only reach communities by boat because roads have been completely cut off by floodwaters,” she said.
Mozambique’s Institute for Disaster Management and Risk Reduction reported that at least 103 people have died, while more than 650,000 others have been displaced by the floods. Aid agencies have warned of a heightened risk of cholera and other water-borne diseases in overcrowded displacement camps now sheltering nearly 100,000 people.
Meanwhile, scientists say human-caused climate change significantly worsened the torrential rains and flooding that have battered southern Africa, killing more than 100 people and forcing over 300,000 from their homes across the region.
According to a new study by World Weather Attribution, parts of South Africa, Mozambique, and Zimbabwe received an entire year’s worth of rainfall in just 10 days. The extreme weather caused widespread destruction to homes, roads, and bridges, with damages estimated in the millions of dollars, alongside extensive human suffering and loss of life.
In Mozambique, many homes were completely submerged, while key transport links were washed away in South Africa’s Limpopo and Mpumalanga provinces and in parts of Zimbabwe.
The study, carried out by international scientists using peer-reviewed methods, found clear evidence of increasingly intense rainfall events linked to climate change. Researchers described the recent downpours as a once-in-50-years occurrence, rarely seen in historical records.
The floods were further intensified by the ongoing La Niña weather phenomenon, which typically brings wetter conditions to southern Africa but is now unfolding in a much warmer atmosphere.
“Our analysis clearly shows that the continued burning of fossil fuels is increasing the intensity of extreme rainfall,” said Izidine Pinto, a senior climate researcher at the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute and co-author of the study. He added that a roughly 40 percent increase in rainfall intensity could not be explained without the influence of human-driven climate change.
“What would already have been a serious period of heavy rain has been transformed into a far more violent deluge that communities are simply not equipped to handle,” Pinto said.
