Torrential rains in southern Mozambique have unleashed a humanitarian crisis, claiming nearly 140 lives and displacing thousands since October.
Amidst the rising tide, 17-year-old Erica Raimundo Mimbir birthed her premature daughter on a barren, wooden school desk.
Marooned for days, the teenager found sanctuary on the only dry surface remaining within her drowning home.
She named the child Rosita, honoring a resilient soul born in a tree during the historic 2000 floods.
The United Nations reports that 650,000 citizens now face the devastation of swallowed roads and ruined livelihoods.
In Manhica, schools transformed into emergency shelters house hundreds who sleep on mats where children once learned.
Farmers like Salvador Maengane watch helplessly as emerald fields of maize vanish beneath a silent, muddy shroud.
The fury of the water has severed vital highways, isolating communities and strangling the flow of essential aid.
Over 285,000 hectares of farmland lie submerged, erasing the primary food source for countless families across the nation.
Officials maintain a nationwide red alert as heavy rains loom, threatening to increase the already staggering death toll.
For survivors like Elsa Paulino, the receding waters leave behind hearts heavy with displacement and deep uncertainty.