Maputo, January 20 (RHC)-- Massive floods in Mozambique have claimed the lives of 71 people over the last ten days. Mozambican authorities said on Monday that the floods caused by heavy rains have affected about 80,000 people in the center and north of the country.

“Forty-nine of the victims were from the central province of Zambezia, where the Licungo River overflowed its banks,” said Rita Almeida, a spokeswoman for the National Disaster Management Institute. “Nearly 30,000 people have been rescued and placed in 34 accommodation centers,” she stated, adding that emergency services are on high alert, and warning that more rain is expected in the coming week.

Mozambique’s neighbor, Malawi, has expressed solidarity with the victims of the natural disaster. President Peter Mutharika of Malawi has called the floods a “national tragedy,” which urgently needs both local and international response.

Mozambique’s deadliest floods were in 2000 when an estimated 800 people lost their lives in heavy flooding.