MAPUTO, Jan 13 (Reuters) - Hundreds of families have fled raging floodwaters which swamped scores of small towns and large areas of agricultural land in Mozambique's central Sofala province, Radio Mozambique reported on Sunday.

The state broadcaster said 10 of 17 towns in the Machanga district, 100 km (60 miles) south of the port city of Beira, had been flooded by waters from the Save River.

Agricultural land, including rice fields, was under water in the region.

Heavy recent rains in southern Africa have swollen rivers, killed several people in Mozambique and Zimbabwe and displaced thousands more.

Radio Mozambique said the Mopeia district, 225 km (140 miles) north of Beira on the lower Zambezi River, had been completely submerged and emergency services had intensified rescue operations in the area.

Flood waters sweeping through Mozambique's central regions were destroying bridges and roads and on Saturday, 34,000 people were rescued from dangerous areas in the Zambezi River area.

Authorities say further heavy downpours in Zimbabwe and Zambia have forced the government to increase rescue operations in areas initially declared safe but which are now flooded.

The floods have so far claimed the lives of six people in Mozambique, four drowned and two were snatched by crocodiles. Officials have warned of outbreaks of diarrhoea and cholera. Diarrhoea is one of the biggest killers of children in Africa.

Floods killed 45 people and left 285,000 homeless last year when torrential rain and hurricanes swept through Mozambique. It was the worst flooding since 2000-2001, when 700 people died and another half a million were driven from their homes.

Mozambique has so far spent $10 million combating this year's flooding and has improved its disaster management in recent years following the floods of 2000-2001.

The country's National Institute of Disaster Management estimates that a further 60,000 people could be at risk from the current floods. (Reporting by Charles Mangwiro; Editing by Marius Bosch and Giles Elgood)

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