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Morning News

Mozambique Officials Fear Flood Death Toll in Thousands

Aired February 29, 2000 - 9:15 a.m. ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: In Mozambique, officials fear the death toll from catastrophic floods could be in the thousands. As the water continues to rise, helicopter crews are scrambling to rescue residents still clinging to any bit of high ground they can find.

Reporter Mark Austin has more on the desperate race against time and the elements.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MARK AUSTIN, ITN REPORTER (voice-over): As soon as day breaks here, South African rescue crews are risking their lives to save others. In the rapidly rising floodwaters, we came across four boys aged between 5 and 12 clinging desperately to the roof of a car now almost completely submerged. There is only one way to save them: by winch. The downdraft from the helicopter threatens to blow the boys into the water. They cannot swim and they cling to each other for their lives.

The rescuer grabs hold of one of the boys. And realizing the others could lose their grip, he beckons them towards him. Eventually he emerges with all four boys. It is all he can do to hold onto them. He screams that one is falling. Everybody in the helicopter scrambles to pull the boys to safety.

This is how these rescue teams are saving lives hour after hour in the floodwaters of Mozambique. The gratitude is clear, but the boys say the rest of their family remains stranded. The truth is, however, that thousands of families are stranded, and moments later, our helicopter hovers dangerously over the roof of an almost submerged house.

They're hauled in through both doors of the helicopter. Some of the people appear too frightened to move, so one of the crew has to climb onto the roof to persuade them. It was an operation that took maybe 10 minutes, but eventually they cleared the roof.

On almost every house and in many of the trees, people were begging to be rescued. The tree this old man was clinging to was almost lost beneath the water. The priority here is the frail, the old and the children. Relief workers flying in the rescue planes cannot believe the extent of the flooding or the suffering.

MICHELE QUINTAGLIE, U.N. WORLD FOOD PROGRAMME: The last trip, we had a baby who was one month old just barely making it. It's incredible, but we're doing everything we can.

AUSTIN (on camera): And it's the children who are in most danger, yes?

QUINTAGLIE: The children are absolutely terrified, and they only have people to hang onto in order to survive at this point. We're finding people who are in very high water that have to get out now.

AUSTIN (voice-over): But with only five rescue helicopters and so many people to be rescued, it is almost certainly more will die here. And with every passing hour, more villages succumb to the floods.

(on camera): The floodwaters of Mozambique now stretch for hundreds of square miles, submerging thousands more villages. It is the people from those villages the rescue crews are now trying to save. But they can't save all of them.

(voice-over): Like the families stuck in these trees. They must wait and hope. Our helicopter is already too full to take them. In fact, some are so heavily laden, they can barely lift off above the water.

Of course, hundreds of thousands of people have now lost everything and are on the move, and they must keep moving as the flood spreads so rapidly.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are running out of time. It's bad. It's bad. I'm telling them that they must just move as far as possibly they can move, then head back.

AUSTIN: The focus remains on trying to rescue thousands of people, many of whom have spent more than 48 hours fearing for their lives; people who now face the prospect of another night holding on and praying the water does not consume them.

Mark Austin, ITN, Kibutu (ph), Mozambique.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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