Floods leave hundreds homeless

Floods have left close to 600 people homeless and destroyed 1,375 hectares of crops in the central Mozambican province of Zambezia, Reuters reported on Friday. The floods follow heavy rains and hail storms that have been battering the province in the past few days. Authorities said they were caught off guard because the rains came earlier than expected. Seventy houses are believed to have been destroyed by the rain. Meanwhile, in the same region, the Chire river, a tributary of the Zambezi, has burst its banks and several roads in the Morrumbala district have been cut off. Authorities said the water level in the Zambezi river is continuing to rise in Mutarara District in the western province of Tete. They say the flood level currently stands at 4.5 metres, half a metre higher than the flood alert. Floods in February and March last year left about 700 people dead and devastated the economy of Mozambique, one of the poorest countries in Southern Africa. An estimated two million people were displaced.