Mozambique Flood Relief 2015 - 3

Another note from our Heli pilot in Mozambique:

Dear friends,

Below are a few photos giving a preliminary view of how Mercy Air is using the helicopter to help with the flood relief in Mozambique.

Due to internet limitations here and time available, I can't send more pictures or write explanations at the moment - but that will come. Please ask if  you need specific info for something.

So far, we have been doing survey flights for 'Save the Children' and 'Concern' NGO's in the areas of the
Chire River bordering Moz & Malawi and the Licungo River NE of Quelimane. The Licungo River flows through the town of Mocuba where the river level reportedly rose 12 metres in one day!

It's now two weeks since the major deluge that started this, so water levels have subsided substantially but mud and disaster remains.

'Floods don't just kill people by drowning them. They kill people by destroying crops, which means famine. They kill people by spreading disease. They kill people by washing away homes, possessions and livelihoods, leaving nothing to survive on

This is not just a disaster that will last a few days or weeks until the ground dries up. For many, it will last for years'. (BBC).

Thank you for being part of the team.

Dean & Kaylene

 

Mozambique Flood Relief 2015 - 2

Further to his last communication, Mercy Air helicopter pilot Dean Yeoman sent this report:

Central & Northern Mozambique are experiencing major flooding. You can pretty much add another zero onto some of the stats I quoted last Sunday! I have been doing survey flights for 'Save the children' NGO since Tuesday and seen some astounding scenes of widespread flooding beyond my imagination. Moz is a very flat country so doesn’t drain easily.

Two weeks of torrential rain has turned thousands of square kilometres into muddy lakes, washed out many bridges, isolated many communities by submersing roads, left this years food crops lying on their side covered in mud and of course taken many lives. In one of the villages we surveyed [Boni] hundreds of people spent 7 days on the only 'hill' in the area – a little mound about 3 metres higher than the rest, in pouring rain and very little to eat. Waters are now receding, but of course many houses have collapsed, food stocks lost and this years harvest wiped out. There are tough times ahead for tens of thousands of people.

Pray for courage for people to face their futures  and wise use of resources in distributing aid. It seems to take so long for aid to build momentum and be effective.

Dean & Kaylene


Here is a satellite image of the storms that bought all this chaos a week or so ago.

And here is a map with the flooded areas superimposed. The dark red area by the number 255 is 20km across and the length is about 140km. So a river that is probably a maximum of 500m has now become 40 times wider.

Next is our on board satellite track of where the heli has been in response. The map scale and area are more or less the same.

 Zoomed in just a little bit more gives and idea of the intensity of the flying that has been done.

Below are some photos taken by Dean as well as others involved in the relief efforts.

 

 

 

All this can get to a point where the scale and impact is lost as every picture just involves huge amounts of water. Unseen though is the suffering endured by countless people, families, villages and whole regions and it's these people we seek to help.

Thank you

Mercy Air team

Mozambique Flood Relief 2015

Late last week Mercy Air was contacted by a number of aid organisations asking us to provide help in survey and relief of the floods in Mozambique.

We hurriedly prepared and re-arranged our schedule and were able to send our helicopter up early this week.

Below are the first photos we have received from pilot Dean Yeoman taken in the central region between Quelimane and the southern tip of Malawi.

Thank you

Mercy Air team