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WeatherMatrix
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Prohibited. Usage logged.
From: Steve Nelson (steve0707{at}yahoo.com)
Date: Sat Jan 18 2003 - 20:57:25 EST
BLANTYRE, Malawi (AP 17JAN03) - Massive flooding
caused by Cyclone Delfina ravaged parts of Malawi and
Mozambique on Friday, washing away homes and crops,
submerging roads and bridges, and cutting off
electricity in the impoverished nations.
In Mozambique, one person died and 10 others were
injured seriously when a vehicle plunged into a river
after a bridge collapsed, state radio reported.
The flooding, caused by weeks of heavy rains, comes as
the southern Africa region struggles to cope with a
food crisis that threatens about 14 million people
with starvation. Thousands of people have been left
homeless.
Two more southern Malawi districts were hit by
flooding Friday, submerging roads and bridges,
officials said. About 20,000 people have been
displaced and almost 60,000 farming families have lost
their crops, officials said.
At least seven people have died because of the
flooding.
Malawi's agriculture ministry sent teams to assess the
damage and has begun relief efforts.
President Bakili Muluzi, who surveyed some of the
damage by helicopter, has declared a state of disaster
and asked the international community for assistance.
In Mozambique, the government sent a helicopter to the
flooded, northern region of Nampula to rescue trapped
people and deliver food.
Nearly 30,000 people in Nampula have been affected.
Fifteen people in Mozambique have been killed in the
flooding, state radio reported Friday.
The fishing port of Angoche was cut off from the rest
of the country Friday after its bridges and roads were
destroyed or flooded.
There was no electricity in the town, delivering a
major blow to the fishing industry, which no longer
can refrigerate fresh catches. Much of the local
industry's catch has rotted.
Still, fishing boats sail. A small vessel capsized
Monday and its four fishermen remain missing.
Heavy rains fell Friday in the central province of
Zambezia and in the northern province of Cabo Delgado,
where the fatal accident occurred. Several villages
were underwater.
The rain followed two years of severe flooding that
killed about 800 people in the southern and central
parts of Mozambique.
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