Floods kill more than 100 in southern Africa as crocodile attacks, hunger and disease fears rise

Devastating floods have killed more than 100 people in southern Africa since the beginning of the year and displaced hundreds of thousands, authorities and aid workers say, warning of hunger, cholera and attacks by crocodiles that have spread with the waters. More than 70 people have died in Zimbabwe and 30 in South Africa, where hundreds were evacuated from Kruger national park after a deluge of rain.

In southern Mozambique the national disaster management agency reported 13 deaths, including three people killed by crocodiles as the Limpopo River and other waterways overflowed. Henriques Bongece, the secretary of Mozambique’s Maputo province, was quoted as saying the animals seemed to have been washed into the area by flood water from South Africa and urged people "not to approach still waters because crocodiles are drifting in these waters." One person was killed by a crocodile in Maputo’s town of Moamba and two in neighbouring Gaza province, officials said.

Almost 400,000 people have been displaced in Mozambique, with many rescued by helicopter from trees and rooftops, and flood waters are still rising in some areas as water flows across the border from South Africa. Aid workers warned of cholera risks in camps housing almost 100,000 people and of worsening food security after about 60,000 hectares of farmland were lost and more than 58,000 livestock killed, the disaster agency said.

Key Topics

World, Southern Africa Floods, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, South Africa, Kruger National Park