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The Associated Press
MAPUTO,
Mozambique (December 30, 2000 8:16 a.m. EST http://www.nandotimes.com)
- Still recovering from devastating floods earlier this
year, Mozambique could suffer renewed flooding because of
persistent rain in neighboring Zambia.
Zambian
authorities have opened the floodgates in the Kariba dam,
putting more than 150,000 people in Mozambique's central
province of Zambezia at risk, the Noticias newspaper reported
Saturday.
Most
of the people in the threatened area are peasant farmers.
Serious flooding would sweep away farmland and cause famine,
said Orlando Francisco, an official with the Natural Disasters
Management Institute.
Provincial
authorities were planning to contact Zambia to discuss the
issue, Francisco said.
Floods
in February and March killed 700 people and did about $1
billion in damage, destroying the homes or livelihoods of
more than 10 percent of Mozambique's population of 19 million.
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