MAPUTO, March 10 (Reuters) - Tropical cyclone Jokwe battered parts of Mozambique for a third day on Monday, killing at least eight people and destroying thousands of homes in the northern Nampula province, Radio Mozambique reported.

The state-controlled national broadcaster said four districts were being lashed by heavy downpours and strong winds of up to 200 kph (125 miles per hour).

Thousands of people have been forced to flee their homes and the cyclone has destroyed almost 20,000 homes, wrecked electricity pylons and uprooted trees.

Emergency officials said the cyclone was moving to the country's southern regions and they expected the death toll to increase.

Paulo Zucula, director of Mozambique's National Institute of Disaster Management (INGC) said Cyclone Jokwe was more dangerous than Cyclone Favio which struck Mozambique last year and killed 10 people.

"The situation is terrible right now with dangerous winds of 200 kph travelling to the southern parts of Mozambique," the told Reuters.

Zucula said more floods could be expected as the cyclone is heading inland to areas in central Zambezia province already battered by floods earlier this year.

Tens of thousands of people in Mozambique were forced to flee their homes earlier this year in what the United Nations said could be the worst floods in memory, engulfing farmland and wrecking roads and bridges. Last month Cyclone Ivan smashed Madagascar, killing more than 80 people and leaving over 200,000 homeless, but lost steam before striking Mozambique. (For full Reuters Africa coverage and to have your say on the top issues, visit: http://africa.reuters.com/ ) (Reporting by Charles Mangwiro, writing by Marius Bosch; Editing by Matthew Jones)

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