Rains continue to cause havoc

Heavy rains over large parts of Southern African in recent days have caused havoc, and more bad weather is predicted for the coming week. The Zambezi river in Mozambique has continued to rise making road transport increasingly difficult in the central parts of the country, state radio said on Tuesday. Francis Christie, media and public relation coordinator in the UN Resident Coordinator's Office in Maputo told IRIN that there had been a report of a rise of 13 cm in the Zambezi river since Sunday, which had prompted the local administration to evacuate about 2,000 people from areas at risk of flooding to higher ground. Meanwhile, the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) said on Tuesday that it had been requested to assist with the distribution of aid in flood stricken areas of Mozambique. The SANDF said the relief operation started on Monday and would last until Wednesday. The SANDF said a Hercules C-130 transport aircraft and a 13-member team had flown in to transport 40 mt of food and medicine from Maputo to affected areas, and 30 mt from the coastal city of Beira to Quelimane the provincial capital of Zambezia. Meanwhile, in Zambia news reports said that more than 5,000 persons were made homeless by heavy rains around the Lusaka area and central Zambia. In Malawi reports said that government officials had ordered villagers in southern districts of the country to urgently move to higher ground on Monday after heavy rains displaced over 100 people in seven villages.