The 2007 Mozambican flood began in late December 2006 when the Cahora Bassa Dam overflowed from heavy rains on

Southern Africa Southern Africa is the southernmost subregion of the African continent, south of the Congo and Tanzania. The physical location is the large part of Africa to the south of the extensive Congo River basin. Southern Africa is home to a number of ...

. It worsened on February 22, 2007, when the Category 4

Cyclone Favio Intense Tropical Cyclone Favio was the first known tropical cyclone that passed south of Madagascar to strike Africa as an intense tropical cyclone. Early on 11 February 2007, a zone of disturbed weather formed east of Madagascar. Four days lat ...

made landfall on the central province of

Inhambane Inhambane, also known as Terra de Boa Gente (''Land of Good People''), is a city located in southern Mozambique, lying on Inhambane Bay, 470 km northeast of Maputo. It is the capital of the Inhambane Province and according to the 2017 census ...

; experts tracking the cyclone predicted that it would worsen flooding in the Zambezi River valley. The Zambezi River broke its banks, flooding the surrounding areas in

Mozambique Mozambique (), officially the Republic of Mozambique ( pt, Moçambique or , ; ny, Mozambiki; sw, Msumbiji; ts, Muzambhiki), is a country located in southeastern Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi ...

.Mozambique floods displace 68 000, more at risk
SABC News, February 12, 2007. The Chire and Rivubue rivers also flooded. 80,600 people had been evacuated from their homes in the

Tete Tete is the capital city of Tete Province in Mozambique. It is located on the Zambezi River, and is the site of two of the four bridges crossing the river in Mozambique. A Swahili trade center before the Portuguese colonial era, Tete continues ...

, Manica,

Sofala Sofala, at present known as Nova Sofala, used to be the chief seaport of the Mwenemutapa Kingdom, whose capital was at Mount Fura. It is located on the Sofala Bank in Sofala Province of Mozambique. It was founded by Somali merchants. This name wa ...

and Zambezia provinces by February 14. By February 22, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reported that approximately 121,000 people had been displaced by the flooding. Some people refused to leave their homes and livestock. There were 29 confirmed casualties and a further 10 unconfirmed deaths. In early February, the Mozambican authorities did not think the flooding would be as devastating as the

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from ...

and 2001 floods. Paulo Zucula, head of Mozambique's national relief agency, said "We expect more water than we had in 2001. The situation is deteriorating and it will get worse but this time we are better prepared than in 2001". The

World Food Program The World Food Programme; it, Programma alimentare mondiale; es, Programa Mundial de Alimentos; ar, برنامج الأغذية العالمي, translit=barnamaj al'aghdhiat alealami; russian: Всемирная продовольствен� ...

(WFP) estimated that up to 285,000 people may require food aid.Floods wreak havoc in parts of southern Africa, billions need help
. World Food Program . February 9, 2007 Delivery of food aid by the WFP began on February 15. A single UN helicopter was made available for the delivery of aid to evacuation centres. However, thousands of people had not yet received food or drinking water, and the threat of disease outbreaks had also increased; Paulo Zucula retracted his earlier comments about readiness, saying "We were not prepared... it's another disaster".

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:2007 Mozambican Flood Floods in Mozambique

Flood A flood is an overflow of water ( or rarely other fluids) that submerges land that is usually dry. In the sense of "flowing water", the word may also be applied to the inflow of the tide. Floods are an area of study of the discipline hydrol ...

Zambezi River December 2006 events in Africa January 2007 events in Africa March 2007 events in Africa oxa 2006 floods in Africa 2006 in Mozambique 2006 disasters in Mozambique 2007 disasters in Mozambique