I have been a member of MAF's DR (Disaster Response) team for a little while now, but I never anticipated that I would put the training to use twice in one year here in Mozambique with Cyclone Idai and Cyclone Kenneth. Cyclone Idai, which struck central Mozambique at the city of Beira is one of the most intense recorded cyclones to hit Africa and even the Southern Hemisphere.
I have written a blog post for MAF's story hub
here that was still fresh and raw from our return from Beira and shared details in our latest
newsletter as well, but those venues don't allow us to share all of of the pictures and videos we think tell the story.
MAF decided to proactively send two DR folks to Nampula in case Idai turned out to be a destructive storm. Mozambique frequently has storm warnings that end up having only minor flooding, but MAF has learned that to wait and find out how bad means not being in position to help when help is most needed. Rick and Brad travelled as the storm was hitting while Dave and I tried to make connections with other organizations from Nampula. Once the cyclone hit, there were no communications with Beira so we were unsure how things were looking. Our contact with the disaster management branch of the government asked us to come to Caia, north of Beira, where flooding is often the worst due to the river basin there. Prior to the cyclone the area had already experienced significant flooding and they wanted to deliver food aid to some villages that were cut off by flooding. There we met up with Mercy Air who was assisting with aid delivery. We ended up taking large loads of food to an airstrip closer to the village needing the aid and then Mercy Air's helicopter delivered the food from there.
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| MAF meet up with Mercy Air at Marromeu |
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| Unloading the MAF Caravan to the Mercy Air Helicopter |
We learned while in Caia that the Beira airport was currently closed due to debris on the runway and that it would reopen the next day. Therefore we planned to take several INGC officials to Beira the following day so we could assist where the storm damage was the worst. When we arrived there was significant damage at the airport and the city was without power and communications.
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| First day in Beira |
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| Bridge out on the main road into Beira (photo by Rick Emenaker) |
As soon as the weather allowed we did a survey to find out how extensive the damage was. We flew along the road between Beira and Chimoio because we had heard about the damage to the road and many stranded people. Mercy Air was busy rescuing people stranded in trees and dropping high energy biscuits (HEB) to those cut off.
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| People taking refuge in a tree (Photo by Brad Ballin) |
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| Men with boxes of HEB dropped from the Mercy Air helicopter (B. Ballin) | |
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| From the Mercy Air helicopter another heli was photographed delivering aid (B. Ballin) |
Our survey revealed extensive flooding south of Beira in the Buzi River area that was previously unknown. Many villages were under water and hundreds were stranded on rooftops. This shifted the priority for the crisis repsonse in the coming days.
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| (R. Emenaker) |
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| (R. Emenaker) |
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| Men waving from remants of a building (R. Emenaker) |
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| (R. Emenaker) |
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| (R. Emenaker) |
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| On the side of the building you can see that how much higher the water had already been (R. Emenaker) |
It was heartbreaking to fly over people desperately waving for help as they watched the airplane fly by. We took coordinates to share with recue helicopters as we saw stranded people below.
Here is a link to a GoPro
video that shows the vastness of the flooding. Dave created this video with the Google Earth image beside it so you can see where it was filmed and what is normally dry ground. The video is sped up but the Caravan was flying for miles over flooded land. Even some of the passengers on the survey flight asked if we were over the sea. What is incredible is this is after the flood waters had already started to recede.
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| Extent of Flooding (red) |
As the waters receded we began to bring in aid to help people who had lost their homes. We picked up tents and family kits from Chimoio and brought them to Beira. From there Mercy Air delivered them to locations where they were setting up camps for internally displaced people.
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| Unloading tents |
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| Mercy Air delivering the tents | |
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| Camp set up for internally dispaced people (B. Ballin) |
We also began to do flights for aid workers and to bring other types of cargo in. We coordinated with the other agencies and organizations that were helping with the response to best utilize our resources.
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| Attending a meeting at the airport (R. Emenaker) |
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| Loading the airplane with family kits |
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| A flight with a Red Cross team |
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| Dave and Rick tying down a load |
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| Caravan stuffed full of tents | | | |
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| Unloading tents |
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| Making a plan for the next day |
MAF also coordinated with Samaritan's Purse who brought in a large cargo plane and ended up setting up a remote clinic in Buzi. With the help of MAF personnel, they were able to reopen an old abandoned airstrip so they could bring their plane in with supplies for the clinic.
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| Helping unload Samaritan's Purse DC-3 |
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| Before and After - Buzi Airstrip |
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| DC-3 Landing at Buzi |
