BLANTYRE, 1 February 2008 (IRIN) - Torrential rain pelting Malawi since October last year has affected over 72,000 people, according to the government.

Lillian Ng'oma, Secretary and Commissioner for Relief and Disaster Preparedness in the Office of the President (OPC), said this week that floodwater had surged through all three regions of the country, leaving four people dead, crops drowned, and road and telecommunication infrastructure damaged.

The lower reaches of the Shire River in southern Malawi, where flooding is a perennial problem, accounted for three-quarters of all flood victims. Ng'oma said the displaced people had taken refuge in schools and churches.

"The country continues to receive a lot of rain and chances are that we will have an increased number of people who will be affected by floods," she added. The rainy season usually lasts until March.

"Out of the 14 districts that have been affected countrywide, Chikwawa and Nsanje in the south are the worst hit, and the roads leading to some villages have been submerged. It will not be easy for us to send relief items to people who need assistance."

The Department of Relief and Disaster Preparedness had so far spent US$340,000. "Government has sourced funds to assist flood victims but we are appealing to our development partners to render a helping hand. We are likely to deplete our resources if none of our partners will come on board to assist," said Ng'oma.

The Malawi Red Cross Society said it had provided tents and tarpaulins for emergency shelter.

Last year Malawi's Meteorological Department predicted flooding as a result of the La Nina phenomenon, in which cooler water wells up to the surface of the eastern Pacific Ocean, an event strongly associated with heavy rainfall across southern Africa. Neighbouring Mozambique, Zambia and Zimbabwe have all been affected by flooding this season.

Ng'oma said her department had advised people in flood-prone areas to evacuate their homes and move to higher ground, but many were reluctant to go. Chief Tengani, a traditional leader in Nsanje, one of the affected districts in southern Malawi, said it was not easy to convince people to abandon their land. "They have lived all their life cultivating along the Shire River."

Solomon Tobby, District Commissioner for Nsanje, said this reluctance had cost 7,617 households either their homes or crops. "At the moment we are having problems to distribute drugs to some areas where the roads are now impassable. We hope the Department of Disaster Preparedness will liaise with the Malawi Defence Force to ask for a helicopter to airlift drugs and other items to areas in dire need."

Around 2,500 flood-hit Mozambicans have also crossed into Malawi seeking shelter, food and medical care, said Ng'oma. "The situation is worse in Mozambique, where crocodiles are attacking people, and the safest place to run to is Malawi."

jk/oa/he

© IRIN. All rights reserved. More humanitarian news and analysis: http://www.IRINnews.org

IRIN news