Chokwe, Mozambique, Feb. 8, 2026 (Lusa) - The floods in Mozambique have affected particularly badly the region of Chókwè, in the south, the country's breadbasket, with the Limpopo floodplain covering 88% of the region in just a few days, swallowing up months of agricultural production, particularly rice, and threatening famine.

"These floods had a special characteristic: they reached places that were once considered safe. Where there were safe places or safe spots in the floods of 2000 and 2013, in 2026 the waters reached them," Chókwè administrator Narciso Nhamuco told Lusa.

"It is a new tragedy that cannot be compared to any other," he emphasised, while coordinating humanitarian aid for more than 55,000 people placed in three shelters set up in the region, in Gaza province, 250 kilometres north of Maputo.

And in the "breadbasket of the country," he says, the days are filled with apprehension about the future: "Agricultural activity has been completely devastated."

Chókwè, in Gaza province, was one of the areas most affected by the January floods, changing the lives of 170,000 people, administrator Narciso Nhamuco explained to Lusa, leaving 88% of the territory flooded. In other words, 2,258 square kilometres have been submerged since 15 January.

In agriculture, 44,000 producers are affected, including flooded fields, houses and villages.

"This is the breadbasket of rice production. Irrigation has also been affected, because it has suffered several breaches, and this will also compromise our production. We are talking about an area of 45,750 hectares that have been completely affected in terms of production," he explains.

The administrator of Chókwè recognises the "urgent need" for the local population to have seeds to try to resume production, starting with rice, so as not to lose "self-sufficiency" or face "complete dependence on food aid".

On the ground, an assessment of the damage and the conditions for the population to return to some areas safely is underway.

"These people will return to their neighbourhoods and partners will support them with “kits”, in this case hygiene kits, but also dignity kits or food kits for the recovery phase. This is a process, it is work that is being done," he says.

Throughout the region, with refrigerators on their heads and water up to their waists, there are those who are still trying to salvage what was left behind in their hasty escape from the rising waters.

"People here are suffering greatly because of the floods," explains Ursilo Muhovo, 49, on his motorbike, which he uses to transport passengers, even in the floods.

"It's a risk to fall into the water," he jokes, complaining: "There's no support. People are getting rubbish [from the floods]." Next to him, hundreds of documents, some from court cases and others clearly official, are visible, apparently washed away by the January floods.

A situation "much worse" than previous floods, recalls the transporter, before lamenting: "the people who died".

Meanwhile, he waits for passengers, few in number, to take them to the neighbouring region of Guijá, also in Gaza province, along a road taken over by water.

Before, the price of the service was 100 meticais (€13.30) for a few kilometres, but after the floods it is now 150 meticais (€2) and continues to rise.

"Fuel is very hard to come by, there's nothing at the pumps. When you buy a litre, it's 300 meticais [€4]," he says.

Health centres, hospitals, public buildings, and thousands of homes have not escaped the floods in Chókwè, including 84 schools, with no prospect of a return to normal activities. Some are being used as shelters, with the start of the school year postponed by a month to 27 February due to the floods.

"They accommodate 63,000 pupils," explains the administrator of Chókwè, on the impact on the affected schools, adding: "As our school year will start at the end of this month, we have this safe space in February to assess the situation and seek support from our partners in the field of education so that we can see what immediate solutions can be guaranteed so that we can return by that time."

Even the teachers' whereabouts are unknown among the displaced: "We are conducting a survey to find out where they are, because not all of them are in the same centre and not all of them are in the centre near their school, because their school has been affected."

This is the case of Apolinário Basílio, a 40-year-old mathematics teacher, who is devastated by what he sees in the city, the region's capital.

"It's the breadbasket of the country, but people are crying right now (...), they're asking for help," he tells Lusa.

"There was a lot of destruction in the city. Here in the first neighbourhood, they left with nothing, they lost a lot, there were deaths," he describes, acknowledging that the population "needs help".

"The most important priority is food," he says, lamenting that groups are entering flooded houses to take what little is left.

"The owners of the houses are not here [they have been displaced], so they vandalise and steal things. It's not right," he says.

Teacher Basílio knows that the school is on the other side, but the waters of the Limpopo have destroyed the road, so he does not know if he will be able to get to work on 27 February, the scheduled start date for the 2026 school year.

"There is no connection," he says, pointing to the other side of a road that only a few attempt to cross on foot, such is the force of the water.

Administrator Narciso Nhamuco acknowledges the difficulties and says that the city of Chókwè, in the low area, "suffered greatly," with access to the north cut off and most of the 139,000 inhabitants in displacement centres.

"Most of this population, in almost all neighbourhoods of Chókwè, were flooded and suffered," he conceeds, acknowledging that "much of the infrastructure suffered," both state infrastructure and homes and roads.

"But a key element of great concern is the issue of irrigation, because irrigation surrounds the city and the entire region and is the basis of the population's livelihood. This is the biggest problem. And the access roads. And, as you know, this will also worsen the drainage situation," he says.

For now, in Mozambique's breadbasket, the fear for the coming months is hunger, as the water slowly recedes.

PVJ/AYLS // AYLS

Lusa