Nampa, Idaho-based Christian ministry organisation Mission Aviation Fellowship (MAF), operating as Ambassador Aviation in Mozambique, is responding to the humanitarian crisis caused by Cyclone Idai by dispatching a Cessna Grand Caravan to carry out survey flights. MAF has been working with Mozambique's National Institute for Disaster Management (INGC) and other NGOs to coordinate rescue and relief efforts.

Flight surveys have revealed significant damage to the EN6 roadway, a major highway between Beira and Chimoio, with entire sections washed out by flood water, and other roadways under water and bridges damaged or gone.

Additional flight surveys going south into the Buzi River basin show that the area has deep and widespread flooding, with entire buildings under water and people stranded on rooftops.

MAF pilot and disaster response team member Rick Emenaker says: “We recently went on a heartbreaking flight, flying over many miles of flooded land in the Buzi River basin. We saw many people on rooftops surrounded by kilometres of water. It was difficult to comprehend and think that many will have perished. A number of villages were completely buried.

“The magnitude of this disaster is hard to comprehend, and we are glad we can be here to help. It is a very difficult situation that has no short-term end in sight.”

Information from the aerial surveys is being shared with INGC and other NGOs to coordinate relief efforts. Mercy Air, a helicopter operation, is coordinating with MAF and distributing boxes of high-energy biscuits in areas completely cut off by flooding. Food is being provided by the World Food Programme (WFP).

MAF's fixed-wing Grand Caravan may also be utilised as an air bridge to bring in bulk supplies and fuel for distribution, as well as for relief worker rotations.