Thousands remain at risk as African floodwaters remain
The flood situation in the Zambezi valley in central Mozambique remains serious with 50,000 people potentially still at risk.
The water level in the Cahora Bassa dam, which feeds into the Zambezi, has decreased in recent days, raising hopes that officials can reduce its flow or at least keep it constant.
The floods that began early this year have killed 52 and left 81,000 people homeless.
The World Food Program estimates it is feeding between 60,000 and 70,000 people in Mozambique, most of them in evacuation camps.
However, authorities in Zambia and Zimbabwe have been forced to increase the amount of water being released from the Kariba dam, which flows into the upper Zambezi, because the dam is so full.
"It is still difficult because it is still raining and the water is coming from the Cahora Bassa and Kariba" dams, Communications and Transport Minister Tomaz Salomao said.
Mozambique could also be in for a severe storm, as a tropical depression over the northernmost tip of Madagascar is headed west-south west, towards Mozambique, a forecaster with the South African Weather bureau says.
Helicopters from the South African air force and the World Food Program on Monday have airlifted 444 people to safer ground.
Mozambique has lost an estimated 22,000 hectares (54,000 acres) of crops in this year's floods, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization says.
Last year's devastating floods, which killed 700 and left hundreds of thousands homeless, destroyed 167,000 hectares (412,000 acres) of crops.
"So far, the impacts of the floods is not a significant threat to national food security," the organization said. The harvest prospects in both Mozambique and Malawi - which has also been struck by floods - could deteriorate if the heavy rains continue in coming weeks, he said.
Floods have also affected more than 200,000 people in Malawi and more than 15,000 in Zambia.
