Manhica, Mozambique, Jan. 21, 2026 (Lusa) - With the roads leading in and out of the Mozambican province of Maputo to the north and south cut off since Saturday due to flooding, thousands of people are desperate, with no way to continue their journey, and not even the dead can escape.

"I just need to get through, I have to take the coffin to continue the journey," Luís Chichava, 56, a driver of a “chapa”, a semi-public transport vehicle, explains to Lusa.

Since Sunday, he has been stuck near the 3 de Fevereiro neighbourhood in the Manhiça region, north of Maputo province, watching the National Road 1 (N1), the country's main road, completely flooded, while behind him is a line of all kinds of vehicles stuck, waiting for news for days.

"I was bringing an urn from South Africa, when I got here I found the road closed. So we slept here. The next day I had to go back to Manhiça [30 minutes away] to ask the hospital to keep the urn and for me to wait here. I'm still waiting," he says.

He left Cape Town, South Africa, on Saturday for a 2,150-kilometre journey to Xai-Xai, in the Mozambican province of Gaza. He asked for the coffin, containing the body of a Mozambican man who was stabbed to death in the South African city on 25 December, which he is transporting to his homeland for the funeral, to be kept in the nearest morgue, while the family in Xai-Xai despairs.

"We tried everything we could, at least we were fighting to see if we could put it on a plane, a helicopter, a boat, but none of this was possible. The family is very worried. Extremely worried," says Luís, while hundreds of others, drivers, passengers and families occupy the N1, a few hundred metres before the complete traffic cut-off, with the small Chulavecane river now overflowing.

The scene has been repeated since Saturday at the entrance to Gaza province. South of Maputo, the same situation is happening in the region of Boane, with the N2 cut off for almost five days, impassable due to the water that has taken over the road, and hundreds of families being rescued, cut off in schools and on the roofs of completely flooded houses.

"We have a cut-off there in Boane, but the waters have started to recede," the governor of Maputo province, Manuel Tule, explained to Lusa, admitting that the N2 will reopen in the coming days.

"Here [N1] the situation is a little more critical, we are not sure when we will finish," added the governor, on site, admitting that it is still necessary to check the integrity of the bridges and roads affected by the force of the water in recent days, before reopening.

In the 3rd of February neighbourhood, the centre of air rescue operations in that area, Luís remains steadfast, waiting for a sign that the road will open so he can complete the two-and-a-half-hour journey that still lies ahead to Xai-Xai.

"Just to keep an eye on things, to see if it opens or not. The most worrying thing is that no one in authority comes to say anything (...) Not even if they show up to say that it will open next week, next month. We need some reassurance. No one. No one says anything," he says, worried.

There is "no support" for those who are stranded, with no solutions for continuing their journey, such as food or even basic necessities.

"Everyone has to fend for themselves. No one looks after anyone here. And we already know our Mozambican politics. Sometimes support appears, but it may not reach those in need," laments Luís, a driver since 1999, who confesses he has never seen a scenario like this before.

"I only leave here, to go to the petrol station to shower and have dinner, and then come right back here," he says, waiting expectantly for the next few days.

Paulo André, 41 years old, works in Pretoria, South Africa, and was returning to Gaza by “chapa” (the semi-public transport vehicles) with his son and wife when he was stranded on 3 February. He was one of the first to be stranded. It was Saturday morning and he is still there, waiting: "Since we've been here, we haven't received any information about when we will be able to leave, when they will clear the road for us to pass."

He explains that on the “chapa” he is travelling on, some people are going to Inhambane, others to Beira. Others still have Zimbabwe as their final destination.

"We are hungry, we have children, we have family here, but there is no transport for us to get through, until now (...) They sell food there, but that food is very expensive, we can't afford it," he says.

In the last few hours, he explains, a church distributed some beans, which helped, although it was not enough for so many people who don't know what to do.

Matateu Alberto, a 62-year-old driver who has been in the profession since 1991, has never seen anything like this. He was driving from South Africa until he stopped on Saturday at 6 a.m. and stayed there, still far from the province of Inhambane, his final destination, before making the return journey.

"We are starving, we have no money, we have nothing here," he says, criticising the lack of information about what is happening.

"I'm worried. Because I should be back in South Africa, at work, at this time," he says, acknowledging that everyone around him is just trying to get by. For now, he is getting by with a plate of xima, made from corn flour, cooked right there.

"It's a struggle here, there's no food. And what food there is here is expensive," he says.

The death toll during the rainy season in Mozambique has risen to 114, with six people missing, 99 injured and almost 680,000 affected, according to data from the National Institute for Disaster Risk Management and Reduction (INGD).

According to the same source, from 1 October to the end of 19 January, covering the current period of widespread flooding in the country, 677,831 people were affected, equivalent to 141,818 families, with 11,367 houses partially destroyed and 4,910 totally destroyed, worsening the previous balance.

The government declared a national red alert on Friday.

PVJ/AYLS // AYLS

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