Cabo Verde has declared a state of emergency after catastrophic flash flooding struck the islands of São Vicente and Santo Antão on Monday.
Heavy rainfall on Sunday and Monday triggered flash floods on the two northwestern islands, with São Vicente taking the brunt of the damage, reports Portuguese outlet Rádio Renascença. The torrent of rain caused significant damage to roads, streets, homes, and other infrastructure, documented in harrowing images posted to social media.
Between midnight and 5 am on Monday, 192.3 millimetres of rain fell on São Vicente, according to the National Institute of Meteorology and Geophysics (INMG), nearly double what the island typically gets in a year.
The government has been mobilising resources necessary to support people impacted and cope with the damages. “It was a difficult night, marked by panic and despair,” interior minister Paulo Rocha told public radio. “There were people who lost everything.”
At least nine people lost their lives in the floods as of Monday, according to the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), a further five are missing, 20,000 injured, 1,500 displaced and a total of 3,000 impacted on São Vicente.
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These counts are higher than the at least eight dead and four missing recorded by government authorities and reported by Renascença, Reuters and others on Tuesday. As rescue and cleanup continues, Cabo Verde decreed two days of national mourning, beginning Tuesday.
Many on the island questioned why there was no warning ahead of the flash flooding, which could have reduced the number of dead and injured.
The rain and thunderstorms were forecast, INMG President Ester Brito told local newspaper Expresso das Ilhas, but Cabo Verde lacks the necessary radar equipment to predict the intensity that proved so destructive. When it comes to measuring the amount of precipitable water, she said, “we can’t do that yet.”
Prime Minister Ulisses Correia e Silva, after visiting the hard-hit town of Salamansa, announced on Facebook that the government is “developing strong partnerships” with international organisations, and working to quickly provide assistance to people impacted by the flooding.
Citizens are also pitching in. Young people across the archipelago are organising to send aid to flood victims, and Boa Vista cancelled an upcoming festival, allocating a fifth of its budget to humanitarian aid and reconstruction efforts on São Vicente.
