Southern Africa: Floods kill 17

2006-01-05 20:11

Johannesburg - At least 17 people have been killed and more than 40 000 made homeless by floods that swept across Southern Africa in the past week, striking a region already grappling with severe food shortages.

Low-lying Mozambique, which suffered devastating floods in 2000 and 2001 that claimed some 1 000 lives, had been worst hit in the region, with its death toll standing at 15.

Heavy rain had been falling in two central provinces in Mozambique, leaving hundreds of families homeless and more than 4 000 hectares of crops destroyed.

Mike Huggins of the World Food Programme said: "This is the time of year for flooding. But, as long as the levels stay at their current place we are well prepared."

One million people need food aid

The deadly rains in the former Portuguese colony followed a lengthy drought that left nearly one million people, mostly in the south of the country, in need of food aid.

In neighbouring South Africa, a woman drowned on Wednesday after her shack and a flooded river in Diepsloot, an informal settlement in Johannesburg, washed 10 other dwellings away.

Her two-day-old baby girl, 11-year-old son and their father were in the shack when it was washed away, but were saved by emergency officials.

A second person died in South Africa after his car was swept off a flooded bridge in Secunda, about 150km southeast of Johannesburg.

40 000 people homeless

In Malawi, floods displaced about 40 000 people, destroying the livelihoods of about 8 000 farming families.

District commissioner Harrison Lende said: "Floods have rendered 40 000 people homeless... crops and livestock have also been washed away in Chikwawa district alone."

The districts affected by the flooding were also among the worst hit by famine.

According to aid agencies and the government, up to five million out of Malawi's population of 12 million faced hunger after the worst drought in more than a decade cut production of maize, the staple food.

Malawi's President Bingu wa Mutharika in October declared the food crisis a national disaster.

Families left homeless

Heavy rainstorms in Zambia caused major power blackouts, and several families were left homeless in squatter camps in Lusaka after their shacks were washed away.

In Zimbabwe, weather officials issued a flood warning.

Zimbabwe's director for meteorological services, Amos Makarau, said: "Heavy falls of rain are expected in most places across the country. There is potential for flooding, especially in low-lying areas."

The United Nations food agency said the situation was under control for now.

Huggins said: "What would tip it over the edge would be a sustained heavy inundation of rain for which we would need to look at increasing our humanitarian response, but at this stage we have no reason to believe that that's the way it's going to go."

- AFP