HEAVY RAIN AND FLOODING IMPACT 600,000 IN MOZAMBIQUE, WITH 50 DEAD

DAKAR, Jan 21 (Bernama-dpa) -- Heavy rains since late last month have triggered widespread flooding across Mozambique, killing at least 50 people and affecting more than 600,000 others, according to the European Union’s Emergency Response Coordination Centre (ERCC) on Tuesday, reported German Press Agency (dpa).

The ERCC cited information from the disaster authorities in the southeast African country.

Further rainfall was expected in the south of the country over the next 24 hours, it said, with the provinces Gaza, Maputo, Inhambane and Sofala affected.

Some 78,200 people were being housed in emergency shelters, and thousands of homes had been destroyed, the report said.

Health facilities and infrastructure had been badly hit, the head of the United Nations (UN)'s Humanitarian Affairs office (OCHA) in Mozambique, Paola Emerson, said, speaking from Xai-Xai, the capital of Gaza Province.

She noted that 90 per cent of the population lived in adobe-style houses "that basically melt after a few days' rains."

Emerson said that some 5,000 kilometres of roads have been damaged across nine provinces, including the main road linking the capital Maputo to the rest of the country, which is currently inaccessible, resulting in major supply chain disruptions.

The Limpopo River has burst its banks, flooding a number of areas. All 14 sluices on the Massingir Dam on a tributary to the Limpopo had been opened for the first time since 1977, Mozambican media reported.

The outflow had risen to 17,000 cubic metres per second from 10,000 within hours. Reservoirs downstream were also full, the reports said.

Gabriel Monteiro of the INGD national disaster authority said the floods could be worse than those of 2000, when hundreds of people lost their lives.

More provinces were affected this time, he told the AIM state news agency, but he added that the country was better prepared.

South Africa and Zimbabwe are also experiencing flooding, with the death toll in South Africa reaching 30 since the end of December, the ERCC reported. It reported 70 deaths in Zimbabwe.

--BERNAMA-dpa