Cyclone brings new flood threat to Mozambique
Pastor Dale Morgan
Tuesday February 20, 5:24 PM Reuters
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Cyclone brings new flood threat to Mozambique*
By Charles Mangwiro
MAPUTO (Reuters) - Officials warned flood-ravaged Mozambique on Tuesday
to brace for a tropical cyclone bearing down on the country, threatening
high winds and heavy rains in a region already struggling with
disastrous flooding.
Cyclone Flavio was located in the Indian Ocean less than 200 kilometres
(125 miles) from the Mozambican Channel and was intensifying, with winds
forecast to strengthen to 160 km (100 miles) an hour, the national
meteorology agency INAM said.
"We call upon authorities in the provinces of Sofala, Inhambane and Gaza
to take preventive measures," INAM spokesman Acadio Tembe told Radio
Mozambique on Tuesday.
Mozambique has already seen almost 90,000 people displaced and 40 killed
by serious flooding in the Zambezi river valley, straining disaster
relief efforts as officials battle to get food and clean water to people
in evacuation shelters.
Tembe said the cyclone could also affect Zambia, Malawi and parts of
Zimbabwe if it struck land.
While moderate rains are expected this week, officials say the country
could be hit with much heavier downfalls by the weekend, worsening the
existing flood crisis.
The Mozambican government has warned that as many as 285,000 people
could be affected if the floods worsen and would need food, aid and
other help, while many are already at risk from water-borne disease,
malaria and hunger.
Destructive cyclones have regularly hit Mozambique in recent years and
played a big role in one of the country's worst flood disasters in
2000-2001, which killed 7,000 people and made almost half a million
homeless.