Mozambique to evacuate flood victims, Malawi hit

Mozambique will evacuate thousands of people along the Zambezi valley threatened by floods in southern Africa that have spread to Malawi and left scores homeless, relief officials said on Thursday.

Heavy rains from Zimbabwe and Zambia are still pounding Mozambique and the crisis is deepening, said Paulo Zucula, director of the National Disaster Management Institute (INGC).

"The situation is getting bad day by day and today we'll embark on compulsory evacuation where we know for sure that the waters will flood," he told Reuters, adding that the situation could spiral out of control in some areas.

Heavy downpours are common in the region in the annual rainy season, which runs generally from November to April, but the relentless rain is unusual and has caught officials off guard.

Rains in Mozambique triggered flash floods in parts of Malawi's resort district of Mangochi, destroying over 100 homes, district commissioner Timothy Chirwa told Reuters by telephone.

"This in turn has caused floods destroying over 120 homes and washed away 14 hectares of maize fields, and if this continues it could have adverse effects on the food situation in this part of the country," Chirwa said.

"Our teams are still trying to assess the damage and find out if any lives have been lost but we fear more and more people have been affected."

Floods killed at least six people in Mozambique and officials have warned of outbreaks of diarrhoea and cholera. Diarrhoea is one of the biggest killers of children in Africa.

RED ALERT

Some 54,000 have already been evacuated from other parts of the Zambezi River area and authorities say nearly 110,000 have lost property and livestock.

"We expect to use seven boats and a helicopter to evacuate some 5,000 people in Mutarara and Chinde today," said Zucula.

"The situation is getting out hand in Mutarara, Buzi and Maxanga along the Zambezi valley...we have already issued a red alert, and this is not the time to raise the awareness of people still in dangerous areas, but to cohesively remove them."

Some 500 people have fled Chinde to Malawi.

In Zambia, severe flooding could worsen if water from rivers in the north flows into the hard-hit south, officials say.

Floods have destroyed crops, drowned livestock and caused thousands of Zambians to flee their homes. The government has estimated 1.5 million people could be displaced.

Floodwaters in Zimbabwe, where millions are struggling to feed themselves in the midst of an economic crisis, have cut road links to large parts of the country.

Sibusisiwe Ndlovu, deputy director of the country's Civil Protection Unit, said floods had "generally subsided" but efforts to assist displaced people are still underway.

Mozambique's National Meteorology Institute warned that rains would continue pounding Zambia, Zimbabwe and Malawi in the next 24 hours.

Floods killed 45 people and left 285,000 homeless last year when torrential rain and hurricanes swept through Mozambique. It was the worst flooding since 2000-2001, when 700 people died and another half a million were driven from their homes.