Cyclone Funso (Photo courtesy Joint Typhoon Warning Center)
Mozambique (MNN) ― Powerful, dangerous Tropical Cyclone Funso has continued to lash central Mozambique with flooding rain and damaging winds.
The region is staggering from last week's swipe by Tropical Storms Dando, a Category One storm with moderate to heavy rainfall. There are reports of 5,000 families displaced, a number that is expected to continue to climb. Tom Dudenhofer with Audio Scripture Ministries says, "They're pretty concerned about this one because not only does this particular storm have sustained winds of around 80 mph right now, but the storm is also moving so slowly that it's going to cause very, very serious flooding."
The storm took a lot of people off-guard when it hit southern Mozambique, creating havoc in Maputo, Gaza and Inhambane. Dudenhofer says field reports indicate that "the damage appears to be quite extensive. There were winds and lots of rain. It's the rain that has begun to accumulate and flow down the rivers that has caused the problem."
Many of the low-lying areas were inundated. Says Dudenhofer, "We were in the process of bringing a team into Xai Xai to do some of the internal work on the new studio building there. The rising waters have cut off Xai Xai from its connection to the outside world and also stranded the team on the wrong side of the river."
The bridge connecting Xai Xai to the outside world washed away, leaving a 60-foot gap in the road and effectively cutting off the region from fuel and food supplies.
Aside from government aid trickling in, the teams are still assessing how they can provide the best aid. As of Sunday, ASM missionary Chad Vandenbosch wrote about what pastors were hearing from Xai Xai. One church leader, serving a congregation about two hours north of the city, shared that his church "was totally destroyed during the winds of the storm this past week. Or the call from the pastor that heads up a large ministry in central Mozambique. He called to ask for prayer because in his village over 700 houses and churches had been destroyed. Or the call from the pastor of a church in Chokwe (about an hour from Xai-Xai) who asked for prayer because his village and church were under water."
Dudenhofer says this is an opportunity for outreach, too. "One of the reports that I have in front of me says that in one of the villages where ASM did a big distribution, over 700 homes were destroyed by the wind. That doesn't even take into account the huge amount of rain that's falling." The churches know it, but they're completely under resourced. ASM is gathering more information so they know how to respond.
Vandenbosch writes that the government hopes to "install a temporary bridge over the washout, but any idea of timeframe for that would be grasping at straws."
While the team is safe, Dudenhofer says they're asking you to pray wisdom for their team. "Pray for some of the calamities that are taking place that we won't even hear about for a while. I know that there are many Christians, that there are many local churches that will do their best, but most of them are very small and impoverished. It's just going to be a really, really tough time."
