Flood situation remains critical in Mozambique.

Thousands of people displaced by flooding in Mozambique are stranded in evacuation centres without emergency supplies due to deteriorating conditions in affected areas, international news sources report. Top disaster official Paulo Zucula told Reuters news agency that the country has the use of only one United Nations helicopter to airlift food and other essential items to evacuees, while a number of camps have become inaccessible by road. So far flooding in the central Zambezi valley has claimed around 40 lives and forced over 120,000 people from their homes and fields. The majority of victims have found shelter in makeshift accommodation centres on higher land in flooded areas, where outbreaks of malaria, cholera, conjunctivitis and meningitis are a potential threat. Experts say the situation could deteriorate further over the coming weeks as continuing heavy rains not just in Mozambique but also in neighbouring Zimbabwe, Zambia and Malawi continue to swell the Zambezi and its tributaries. Meanwhile the disaster management authorities have called on the government to prepare supplies of seed for planting as soon as the flood waters subside. Mozambique is particularly prone to flooding as it traversed by the lower part of the Zambezi river, whose basin is also shared by Angola, Namibia, Botswana, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Malawi and Tanzania.