Disasters Mozambique

Rapidly rising flood water in central Mozambique swept bodies down a swollen river Saturday and threatened to drown thousands of other people clinging to trees and rooftops. Officials hoped to get rescue helicopters today to the Save River Valley. The government estimated that 17,000 people in the valley were in danger from water levels that reportedly rose several feet in a matter of hours.

Desperate flood victims rushed at aid trucks in a Mozambican camp, resulting in chaos that left five people dead and 10 injured, officials said Friday, blaming a poorly organized relief mission. It was unclear whether the victims of Thursday's incident were trampled or run over by one of the aid trucks bringing supplies to the Chiaquelane camp, Foreign Minister Leonardo Simao said. "A crowd came in because everybody wanted to get some [aid].

The water level in the flooded Limpopo River valley dropped unexpectedly Friday, freeing thousands of people who were marooned for days in trees and on rooftops during Mozambique's worst flooding on record. Rescuers have saved more than 12,000 people from the flood waters. But tragedy struck the rescue effort Friday when a boat capsized, drowning four children. And in refugee camps, many people went hungry for yet another day.

Aid workers reached isolated villages in southern Mozambique on Saturday and found local people eating grass and insect-infested corn to survive after weeks of floods. A U.N. World Food Program spokeswoman said about 2,500 to 3,000 people had been found in four villages 25 miles from the southern town of Chibuto. They had been trapped by flood waters since Feb. 20. "This could be just the tip of the iceberg. The question is, how many people are out there like this?" the U.N.

Blessed with a full day of sunshine and receding waters, aid groups Saturday stepped up food deliveries to 1 million flood victims in central and southern Mozambique. With previously impassable roads opening, the international relief effort was expected to gain pace. In the largest overland delivery so far, trucks carrying 52 tons of food left the Indian Ocean port of Beira and headed south to the hard-hit city of Save. Aid officials welcomed the rare stretch of sunny skies.

Thousands of Mozambique's hungry and thirsty flood victims straggled into makeshift camps Saturday after days of huddling on rooftops or clinging to tree branches. As more supplies and equipment arrived from around the world--including the first of three U.S. planes carrying boats from Miami--survivors at the camps gulped down cornmeal soup and beans, the first food many had eaten in four or five days.

Aid workers reached isolated villages in southern Mozambique on Saturday and found local people eating grass and insect-infested corn to survive after weeks of floods. A U.N. World Food Program spokeswoman said about 2,500 to 3,000 people had been found in four villages 25 miles from the southern town of Chibuto. They had been trapped by flood waters since Feb. 20. "This could be just the tip of the iceberg. The question is, how many people are out there like this?" the U.N.

At last count, the names of 150 children spilled across the pages of the camp registry here, the whereabouts of their parents listed as unknown. Narciso Valoyi, 11, is there near the top. No home. No parents. His only sister, just 15, is sick with malaria and battling for her life. Narciso has the fever too. His eyes are swollen and red. He doesn't talk much. Questions bring more tears than words.

More than 200 of the expected 600 U.S. troops bound for flood-stricken Mozambique arrived at South Africa's Hoedspruit air base Monday. But unlike participants in most other U.S. humanitarian efforts around the world, these GIs will have an especially tough act to follow. To put it in military-speak, South African rescuers have kicked butt in Mozambique. However, unlike in the bad old days of apartheid, a predominantly white team is doing good in the neighboring country and winning praise.

U.S. airplanes flew over flood-stricken areas of Mozambique on Tuesday, beaming back live video images of marooned people and demolished terrain. The information gathered by a specially equipped Hercules C-130 will be passed on to aid agencies in Maputo, the Mozambican capital, said Air Force Col. Gary Sadler. Meanwhile, five other cargo planes ferried supplies from Hoedspruit air base in South Africa to Maputo and the central Mozambican city of Beira. The first two U.S.

With heavy rains forecast and Mozambique's main highways still impassable, the British navy anchored a floating helipad Thursday at the mouth of the swollen Save River to speed food aid to flood victims. From the deck of the Ft. George, five British helicopters will deliver food to 45,000 hungry flood victims near the central town of Machanga, said Lindsey Davies, a spokeswoman for the World Food Program, a U.N. agency.

Blessed with a full day of sunshine and receding waters, aid groups Saturday stepped up food deliveries to 1 million flood victims in central and southern Mozambique. With previously impassable roads opening, the international relief effort was expected to gain pace. In the largest overland delivery so far, trucks carrying 52 tons of food left the Indian Ocean port of Beira and headed south to the hard-hit city of Save. Aid officials welcomed the rare stretch of sunny skies.

After several days of waiting in neighboring South Africa for the go-ahead, U.S. helicopters touched down in Mozambique on Thursday and began speedily delivering thousands of pounds of rice to hungry flood victims. But heavy rains kept aid from most of the country. With relief agencies unable to reach scores of muddy, squalid makeshift camps in southern Mozambique, food for refugees could run out soon, said Lindsey Davies, spokeswoman for the United Nations' World Food Program.

U.S. airplanes flew over flood-stricken areas of Mozambique on Tuesday, beaming back live video images of marooned people and demolished terrain. The information gathered by a specially equipped Hercules C-130 will be passed on to aid agencies in Maputo, the Mozambican capital, said Air Force Col. Gary Sadler. Meanwhile, five other cargo planes ferried supplies from Hoedspruit air base in South Africa to Maputo and the central Mozambican city of Beira. The first two U.S.

More than 200 of the expected 600 U.S. troops bound for flood-stricken Mozambique arrived at South Africa's Hoedspruit air base Monday. But unlike participants in most other U.S. humanitarian efforts around the world, these GIs will have an especially tough act to follow. To put it in military-speak, South African rescuers have kicked butt in Mozambique. However, unlike in the bad old days of apartheid, a predominantly white team is doing good in the neighboring country and winning praise.

Thousands of Mozambique's hungry and thirsty flood victims straggled into makeshift camps Saturday after days of huddling on rooftops or clinging to tree branches. As more supplies and equipment arrived from around the world--including the first of three U.S. planes carrying boats from Miami--survivors at the camps gulped down cornmeal soup and beans, the first food many had eaten in four or five days.

Heavy rain has turned to drizzle most everywhere in this flooded African country, but with rivers still rising and rescuers faced with the haunting task of choosing whom to save, the heartache is far from over. Helicopter crews from neighboring South Africa and Malawi, working for the third day Tuesday, rescued thousands of stranded people from tree limbs and rooftops along the bursting Limpopo and Save rivers.

Desperate flood victims rushed at aid trucks in a Mozambican camp, resulting in chaos that left five people dead and 10 injured, officials said Friday, blaming a poorly organized relief mission. It was unclear whether the victims of Thursday's incident were trampled or run over by one of the aid trucks bringing supplies to the Chiaquelane camp, Foreign Minister Leonardo Simao said. "A crowd came in because everybody wanted to get some [aid].

The water level in the flooded Limpopo River valley dropped unexpectedly Friday, freeing thousands of people who were marooned for days in trees and on rooftops during Mozambique's worst flooding on record. Rescuers have saved more than 12,000 people from the flood waters. But tragedy struck the rescue effort Friday when a boat capsized, drowning four children. And in refugee camps, many people went hungry for yet another day.

As flood waters claimed more victims Thursday in this poor southern African country, land-mine experts warned of an explosive menace underfoot that has been mostly ignored in the panic to save lives. The rain and floods of the past month have submerged thousands of mines in worst-hit Gaza province, where the Limpopo and Save rivers have spilled across vast stretches of land.