The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reports that more than 600,000 people have been affected by recent floods in Mozambique. The catastrophic flooding has caused massive disruption to lives and livelihoods across the country, increasing the risk of disease and exposing urban areas to crocodiles.
In an update on Wednesday, OCHA stated that many of the temporary centers sheltering approximately 60,000 flood victims are overcrowded and require humanitarian assistance. According to Mozambique’s authorities, nearly 80,000 homes have been destroyed, damaged, or flooded in the southeastern African country.
Heavy rainfall has affected Mozambique, particularly the southern and central provinces, since December 24. The severe flooding has had a growing humanitarian impact, with Gaza, Maputo, Inhambane, and Sofala being the worst affected provinces.
As of Tuesday, the National Disaster Management Institute (INGD) reports 50 fatalities and 30 injuries.
On Tuesday, Paola Emerson, the head of OCHA Mozambique, told reporters in Geneva that the flooding was largely triggered by heavy rains in the first weeks of the new year.
"The numbers keep rising as extensive flooding continues and dams keep releasing water to avoid bursting," she said.
Mozambique’s vulnerability to flooding is exacerbated by the fact that approximately 90 percent of homes are constructed from adobe, a type of brick made from dried mud that is highly susceptible to collapse after prolonged rainfall.
Speaking from Xai-Xai, the capital of Gaza Province, Emerson stressed that these earthen structures “basically melt after a few days’ rains”.
Health facilities, roads, and critical infrastructure are also heavily impacted. Emerson said that approximately 5,000 kilometers of roads have been damaged across nine provinces. This includes the main road linking the capital, Maputo, to the rest of the country. Currently, this road is inaccessible, resulting in major supply chain disruptions.
As of Wednesday, the Massingir Dam in Gaza Province remains above its safe operating level, even as heavy rains subside. It continues to release high volumes of water to reduce pressure on the structure, which contributes to elevated river levels and ongoing downstream flooding, including in areas already affected.
“From just one dam, up to 10,000 cubic meters-worth of water were being discharged. That is approximately 25 times the amount of water that could be held in the press briefing room you are in today, every second,” the OCHA official told journalists, seated in a room with capacity for more than 100 people.
“You cannot imagine the strength of this water and the impact it has on people and the infrastructure.”
Mozambique’s government has declared a national emergency and established an emergency operations center in Gaza Province. Xai-Xai, near the Limpopo River, has flooded, prompting evacuations. Emerson said authorities have issued alerts for downtown Xai-Xai, including warnings about the risk of encountering crocodiles in flooded areas.
“River levels are rising and are reaching urban areas or heavily populated areas,” she said. “The crocodiles that are in the Limpopo River […] are able to get into urban or populated areas that are now submerged underwater.”
Floods heighten disease and malnutrition risks in Mozambique
The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has warned that the flooding in Mozambique is destroying more than just homes, schools, health centers, and roads.
Also speaking from Xai-Xai, Guy Taylor, UNICEF’s chief of communications in Mozambique, said that the flooding is "turning unsafe water, disease outbreaks, and malnutrition into a deadly threat for children."
He said that the combination of waterborne diseases and malnutrition “can often prove lethal” and stressed that, even before the floods, four out of ten children in Mozambique experienced chronic malnutrition.
“Renewed disruption to food supplies, health services and care practices now threaten to push the most vulnerable into a dangerous spiral, including risks of acute and severe acute malnutrition, the deadliest form,” Taylor said.
"Access to the most basic services - such as clean water, healthcare, nutrition and education -is uncertain or unsafe in most impacted areas. In such conditions, children face higher risks of disease, interrupted learning, and protection risks, particularly for girls and adolescents."
Taylor added that Mozambique is now entering its annual cyclone season, which creates the risk of a double crisis.
“We can prevent disease, deaths and irreversible losses to children, but we need to act fast,” he said.
The UNICEF spokesperson described Mozambique as "a country of children and young people," noting its average age of 17.
“When floods and cyclones strike, as they have repeatedly and with increasing frequency over recent years, it's the youngest and children who are hit hardest,” he added.
The UN and its humanitarian partner organizations continue to support the government's response efforts, which focus on evacuations and improving accommodations centers.
Aid agencies are scaling up life-saving assistance and addressing overcrowding in shelters, especially in Gaza Province, while assessments continue in hard-to-reach areas. Additional funding is urgently needed to sustain the humanitarian response.
Humanitarian organizations are providing water, sanitation, and hygiene support, among other aid. On Saturday, the Mozambican government formally requested UN support for search-and-rescue (SAR) operations, preventive evacuations, damage assessments, and the provision of temporary shelters.
Currently, relief operations are hampered by access bottlenecks, as road access to affected areas is largely cut off, which significantly disrupts supply chains. Air and maritime resources are urgently needed to dispatch supplies, including those being airlifted to Maputo.
Key priorities include rapidly deploying air resources for SAR operations and securing humanitarian access to hard-to-reach areas, as well as urgently mobilizing civil engineering and disaster management specialists to temporarily restore key access routes and reinforce flood control measures.
Mozambique is facing multiple crises
The southeastern African nation is highly vulnerable to extreme weather events and frequent natural disasters related to the climate crisis, such as floods, droughts, and tropical storms.
In 2025 alone, Mozambique was hit by two tropical cyclones in less than three months: Cyclone Dikeledi in January and Cyclone Jude in March. These storms affected over 1.3 million people, causing dozens of deaths and severe damage to critical infrastructure. Throughout the 2024/25 rainy season, the country was hit by three cyclones: Dikeledi in January, Jude in March, and Chido in December 2024.
These climate shocks occurred alongside massive conflict-related displacement in Cabo Delgado and neighboring Niassa and Nampula provinces in northern Mozambique, which depleted humanitarian supplies. At least 1.6 million people require urgent humanitarian assistance.