Sofala Province

Sofala Province exists because the Pungwe River exists—creating the estuary where Beira grew into Mozambique's second-largest port and the maritime gateway for landlocked Zimbabwe, Zambia, and Malawi. The Beira Corridor, operational since the late 19th century, connects the port to Zimbabwe's Mutare via 317 kilometers of railway through terrain that colonial engineers found easier than the alternative routes to the south. This infrastructure path dependence persists: billions in regional trade still flow through Sofala.

Cyclone Idai struck on March 15, 2019, and what followed became one of Africa's worst natural disasters. The Category 4 storm made landfall near Beira with winds exceeding 175 km/h, destroying 90% of the city and claiming over 600 lives in Mozambique alone. More than 500,000 hectares of crops were devastated, and the port—the chokepoint for regional commerce—ceased operations for weeks. Three years later, reconstruction continued as UN-Habitat and World Bank programs worked to transform rebuilding into resilience.

The Pungwe and Busi river basins that make agriculture productive also concentrate flood risk. Sofala sits at the convergence of cyclone corridors and river systems, meaning climate extremes compound in ways that each generation must relearn. The same low-lying topography that created the port creates vulnerability as sea levels rise and storm intensity increases.

Beira's port processed increasing cargo volumes after rehabilitation, with fuel terminal operations resuming and infrastructure upgrades targeting expanded capacity. But the 2024 post-election unrest demonstrated how easily disruption spreads—when Maputo's politics fracture, Sofala's commerce suffers.

By 2026, Sofala tests whether climate adaptation investments can outpace the intensifying storm seasons that scientists project.