UN: Southern Africa floods affect a million people

About a million people have suffered the effects of floods, cyclones and heavy rains across Southern Africa in the last year, the United Nations said in a statement issued on Tuesday.

“In total, local authorities estimate that 987 516 Southern Africans have been affected adversely by rains, floods and cyclones since October last year.

“The hardest hit is Madagascar, where several cyclones as well as rains and floods have affected more than 332 000 people,” said the UN.

It also said Angola, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Swaziland, Zambia and Zimbabwe had been affected so far during the annual rainy season, adding that although the worst of the weather was over for another year, problems could persist until the end of April.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said that heavy rains were still expected, including in central Mozambique, where the rivers were already swollen after two days of intense rainfall last week.—Sapa