Cyclone brings new flood threat to Mozambique

MAPUTO, Feb 20 (Reuters) Officials warned flood-ravaged Mozambique today to brace for a tropical cyclone bearing down on the country, threatening high winds and heavy rains in a region already struggling with disastrous flooding.

Cyclone Flavio was located in the Indian Ocean less than 200 kilometres from the Mozambican Channel and was intensifying, with winds forecast to strengthen to 160 km an hour, the national meteorology agency INAM said.

''We call upon authorities in the provinces of Sofala, Inhambane and Gaza to take preventive measures,'' INAM spokesman Acadio Tembe told Radio Mozambique today.

Mozambique has already seen almost 90,000 people displaced and 40 killed by serious flooding in the Zambezi river valley, straining disaster relief efforts as officials battle to get food and clean water to people in evacuation shelters.

Tembe said the cyclone could also affect Zambia, Malawi and parts of Zimbabwe if it struck land.

While moderate rains are expected this week, officials say the country could be hit with much heavier downfalls by the weekend, worsening the existing flood crisis.

The Mozambican government has warned that as many as 285,000 people could be affected if the floods worsen and would need food, aid and other help, while many are already at risk from water-borne disease, malaria and hunger.

Destructive cyclones have regularly hit Mozambique in recent years and played a big role in one of the country's worst flood disasters in 2000-2001, which killed 7,000 people and made almost half a million homeless.

REUTERS MS RK1504