Second cyclone threatens already devastated Mozambique

Rositha was born in a treetop, where her mother had been perched for four days

March 2, 2000
Web posted at: 5:50 a.m. EST (1050 GMT)

In this story: 'The situation ... is worsening' Dramatic rescue of mother and newborn More water coming Helicopters, fuel urgently needed Countries send help Next disaster may be epidemics RELATED STORIES, SITES

From staff and wire reports

MAPUTO, Mozambique -- Aid agencies warned on Thursday that Mozambique, fighting to deal with earlier disastrous floods, could be hit by violent new storms and raging rivers.

A second cyclone, named Gloria, could hit the southern African country at high speed, bringing with it torrential rain, said Michelle Quintaglie, spokeswoman for the U.N. World Food Program.

"Meteorological reports are not looking good for Mozambique," said Quintaglie. "If that storm (Gloria) comes it will be a total catastrophe for this country."

VIDEO Correspondent Cynde Strand rides along with rescuers attempting to save people stranded by the raging floodwaters in Mozambique. QuickTime Play Real 28K 80K Windows Media 28K 80K     ALSO Disaster relief sites

More floodwater was reported to be rushing downriver from neighboring countries, threatening worse to come in the most devastating floods in living memory. The waters were expected to arrive in Mozambique this weekend.

Meanwhile, CNN has learned that the United States is sending hundreds of troops to assist in humanitarian relief and rescue efforts in Mozambique and South Africa.

The United States will provide 13 C-130 aircraft with humanitarian supplies and six MH-53 helicopters from Europe to assist in an area that has been devastated by flooding.

The Pentagon will redirect what was planned as a humanitarian training exercise in Cameroon to provide disaster relief. An estimated 550 troops assigned to the U.S. European Command's 86th Contingency Response Group, based in Germany and England, will be sent to assist in the flooded regions of Mozambique and South Africa, sources told CNN. Those troops include about 100 medical personnel.

Some of the European-based U.S. troops have been training specifically for humanitarian missions in Africa, according to officials familiar with the planned exercise.

'The situation ... is worsening'

The U.S. move comes as desperation builds across southern Africa, where the flooding has left an estimated 100,000 people stranded. Thousands are weak from hunger and exposure, clinging to trees and rooftops and waiting for helicopters or boats to rescue them.

Rescue efforts have concentrated on Mozambique's Limpopo River Valley. "The situation in the Limpopo Valley is worsening," President Joaquim Chissano told reporters after flying over the flooded town of Xai Xai, northeast of Mozambique's capital of Maputo.

"Only helicopters can help people who are hanging on the tops of the houses," he said. "There are people who are on the roofs of huts, in the trees waiting for rescue."

Most of the flood victims are in central and southern Mozambique, an impoverished country of 19 million on Africa's southeast coast that has been deluged with floodwaters since torrential rains began at the beginning of February.

Parts of Zimbabwe and Botswana also are devastated. Zimbabwe officials said on Monday that at least 80,000 people were left homeless by floods in the east and south of that country. But they said the number could be far higher, since many of the flooded regions were inaccessible.

In Botswana, 60,000 people had been left homeless by floods caused by four weeks of heavy rain, said Dineo Mogwe, chairwoman of the National Disaster Management Committee. Eight people had died, he said.

In Geneva, the head of the U.N. Children's Fund warned Wednesday that southern Africa faces a "massive humanitarian disaster" unless it gets more emergency relief.

"If the governments of the world are going to help, the time is now -- not tomorrow or the next day," UNICEF chief Carol Bellamy said in a statement.

Dramatic rescue of mother and newborn

Rositha's rescue, left, was followed by her mother's

Amid the disastrous flooding, airborne rescuers on Wednesday saved a woman and her newborn daughter from their treetop perch.

Sophia Pedro and her newborn daughter Rositha were among more than 900 people plucked from the floodwaters by South African military helicopters. Rositha was born as a rescue helicopter hovered overhead and began hoisting the eight occupants of the tree to safety.

Helicopter pilot Chris Berlyn said crew member Stewart Back had been lowered into the tree and discovered that Pedro was about to give birth. He said the child was born two minutes later.

Berlyn raced back to a base camp to pick up Godfrey Nongovela, a medic. Nongovela and other members of the crew managed to get the woman and child safely aboard the helicopter.

"We took them to Chibuto, where the police took them to a clinic," Berlyn said.

An exhausted Pedro said from her hospital bed that she was happy to have been rescued along with three other members of her family.

But she said her grandmother died in the floods.

Nurses fussed over Rositha and said the baby appeared to be doing fine.

More water coming

Of the thousands awaiting helicopter rescue, these are some of the lucky few

"We speak of 1 million people on the move at the moment," President Chissano told reporters on Wednesday, offering an estimate of the number of people displaced by the rising waters.

Foreign Minister Leonardo Simao told Reuters, "Out of 15 rivers in the country, nine are international rivers and most of them are still receiving waters from South Africa, Zimbabwe, Zambia and even Malawi.

"Some rivers like the Limpopo still have big waves coming."

Lt. Col. Jaco Klopper, commander of South Africa's rescue operations, said it would take up to four days to complete rescue operations in the southern Gaza province alone. Thousands of other people are trapped farther north along the swollen Save River valley.

President Chissano said more water released from the man-made Lake Kariba in Zambia and Zimbabwe would reach Mozambique in the next few days -- hitting areas previously unaffected by the floods and a recent cyclone -- and compounding the country's misery.

Helicopters, fuel urgently needed

Chissano on Wednesday urged the world to send more help. The United States, along with Great Britain, had already promised money, and what is most urgently needed -- extra helicopters, boats, fuel and pilots.

"We are running out of fuel. We need more helicopters and more fuel," said an official in Mozambique's Disaster Management Institute, who declined to be named.

Televised videotape shows flood victims, terrified by helicopters, clinging to ropes as they are hoisted into choppers.

One child is almost washed away as he is saved by a rescuer dangling upside down on a rope; another terrified child refuses to let go of his rescuer after being pulled to safety. Forty-one people escaped the floods in a tree for three days - - sitting on branches and a few scraps of corrugated iron.

In one hour, one helicopter rescued 250 people. But many others had to be left behind.

Aid workers said that making it to dry ground is not the end of the struggle for the flood victims, many of them shivering and in shock. Food and water have yet to reach many of them and aid workers warn many may starve to death.

Latest official estimates place the number of dead at 200 in Mozambique and 350 across the region. But aid agencies warn that the death toll may run into the thousands with many bodies trapped inside huts or under water.

"I will not be shocked to find thousands and thousands of bodies once the water recedes," an aid official told Reuters. "The worst is far from over."

Countries send help

On Wednesday, a giant U.S. C-17 military transport aircraft landed with aid. The U.S. Agency for International Development has donated a total of $11.7 million for flood relief efforts in Mozambique, South Africa and Botswana, the U.S. Embassy in Pretoria said on Wednesday.

"We are here to help. We are working to get more choppers. There is a lot coming in and this aid is adding up to tens of millions of dollars," U.S. Embassy Deputy Chief of Mission Robert Loftis told reporters at the Maputo airport.

A camp has been set up at the southern village of Chaquelane, 160 kilometers (100 miles) northeast of Maputo, where 15,000 people have gathered. On Tuesday, 30 tons of aid were delivered to the camp.

Britain has promised two transport planes carrying 30 emergency personnel, 69 inflatable motorboats, 39 life rafts and emergency response vehicles with satellite communication equipment.

In London, International Development Minister George Foulkes said Britain was also providing five helicopters.

Salim Ahmed Salim, secretary-general of the Organization of African Unity, on Tuesday pledged $500,000 to the relief operation.

Several countries had pledged $13.5 million at emergency talks in Geneva, according to the United Nations Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

Neighboring Botswana said it would donate fuel.

The World Food Program said it had launched a $6.8 million emergency aid operation and estimated that immediate support was needed to search for, rescue and care for up to 300,000 people.

The WFP has said it will use its own cargo planes and hire private aircraft to join South Africa's seven helicopters and five aircraft which have already distributed 1,200 tons of food in a WFP-funded operation. On Wednesday, officials from the Rome-based organization said it needed more planes and helicopters.

"The world has been caught unprepared for this," said WFP spokesman Trevor Rowe.

Mozambique's government said it will need $65 million to rebuild flood-stricken areas.

Next disaster may be epidemics

Greg Hartl, spokesman for the World Health Organization in Geneva, said that flooding, crowding of rescued people and contamination of drinking water increases the risk of outbreaks of cholera, malaria, meningitis and respiratory problems.

Aid workers estimate 800,000 people or more are at risk from possible outbreaks of malaria or cholera.

About 100 cases of malaria and diarrhea are reported each day in the centers were flood refugees stay, said Alfredo Chioze of the Mozambican Red Cross. The South African Broadcasting Corp. reported on Wednesday evening that about 40 cases of cholera have been diagnosed.

Mozambique, still recovering from a 16-year civil war that ended in 1992, was granted $3.7 billion in debt relief in June. The government pays $1.4 million a week on its $8.3 billion in external debt.

Britain has said it is writing off Mozambique's debts. Aid workers say the country may collapse unless other countries do the same. They say millions of dollars in donations also are needed.

Correspondent Cynde Strand, National Security producer Chris Plante, The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

U.N. official: Mozambique flood death toll in the thousands
February 29, 2000
Floods swamp rescue effort as thousands cling to life in Mozambique
February 28, 2000
Mozambique's catastrophic flooding still claiming victims
February 26, 2000
Cyclone drives heavy rains toward flood-ravaged Mozambique, Botswana
February 21, 2000
Torrential rains may slam Mozambique late Sunday
February 20, 2000
Cyclone threatens second blow to battered Mozambique
February 19, 2000
Rains wreak havoc in South Africa, Mozambique
February 8, 2000

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