Cyclone Eloise Survey Flights

Following on from the last post, we have just returned from a week of survey flying in central Mozambique.

Our plan was to fly up the day before the cyclone arrived, get behind it, sit it out for a day to wait for the weather to clear a bit, and then follow it down, helping where we could. In the end we flew over 3100km and mainly covered the area up to 150km inland of where the cyclone made landfall.

We made it up to Chimoio on Friday and met up with our helicopter that had been doing mission flights in the Zambezi Delta the preceding week. As we were initially based near the Zimbabwe border out first flights were concentrated in areas we knew were badly hit by cyclone Idai, two years ago. The good news is that damage and flooding was not as bad as feared and although thousands of people have been displaced, there has been little loss of life and minimal structural damage. The main flooding was concentrated nearer the coast south of Beira.

This still amounted to some large areas of water...

..with some roads impassable...

..and villages cut off.

We flew members of Mozambique's Disaster Management Authority down to the Rio Save, a major river 150km south of Beira.

 Clever Garmin 1000 knows when you're flying up a river at 800'

 

 

They were particularly interested in the bridge carrying the main (only) arterial north/south supply road from the capital to the central parts of the country.

 

The old bridge was flooded but the new one was still passable, although with downgraded load bearing capacities meaning is now had a one way, stop/go, leading to some delays.

 

On the way back we flew over Buzi, the town that had borne the brunt of the last cyclone. As you can see from the photo below, the area was still suffering and many people were displaced. The town was mainly being re-supplied by boat although our helicopter was also able to help, even flying in the Mozambican Prime Minister who was keen to show his concern.

We flew up the river and past the place where Cathy had spent a week working at a field hospital two years ago.

The two small white tents just right of center in the photo below are all that remain of the field hospital that was erected by Samaritan's Purse in 2018.

One of the days surveys loaded on the Garmin 1000...

..and some of what we saw out of the window.

Most evenings consisted of planning round the dining table...

..and tweaking it the next day just before flight, as new information came in...

..before a muddy departure.

We got back to South Africa to find that our north eastern area of SA and eSwatini (the country formally known as Swaziland) had had heaps of rain whilst we were away. Apparently there are numerous bridges washed away and they are struggling to assess the damage. We are already talking to the authorities there and are planning to conduct survey flights tomorrow.

Thank you

Paul and Cathy

Cyclone Eloise - January 2021

A few maps to show what will likely keep us busy this weekend and maybe for a while after that.

Cyclone Eloise will hit the coast of Mozambique on Friday night/Sat morning and then traveling westwards through Zimbabwe, South Africa and Botswana.

It is slightly smaller than cyclone Idai two years ago - although still 1000km across. Winds will be in the order of 200kph and it will likely bring the same amount of rain to an area already waterlogged from heavy summer rainfall.

Our plan is for Paul to fly a team up tomorrow (Friday) just before the cyclone arrives to join our helicopter which is already up there. We will position behind it, sit it out for a day or two and then follow it down over the weekend and the early part of next week.

That way we'll be in a better position to respond by doing survey flights and flying in support of rescue efforts as they arise.

Bottom left to the middle of the cyclone is equivalent to the length of Britain.

Thank you

Paul and Cathy