Mozambique: crocodiles appear in towns amid floods

Residents in Mozambique are on high alert, as crocodiles have started to appear across towns amid heavy floods.

The animals are responsible for at least three deaths in the country. Earlier this month, wo people were killed in an incident in Gaza province.

According to local media, a man was “swallowed” by a crocodile in Moamba, a small town in Maputo province.

Paola Emerson, head of the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in Mozambique, said, “The river levels are rising and are reaching urban areas or heavily populated areas...so the crocodiles that are in the Limpopo river in this case are able to get into populated areas that are now submerged under water and that is the concern.”

The Limpopo river flows from South Africa through Mozambique and towards the Indian ocean.

Heavy rains have battered parts of Southern Africa over the past month, unleashing flooding and claiming more than 100 lives in Mozambique, South Africa and Zimbabwe.

Thousands of homes, as well as infrastructure including bridges, schools and health facilities, have been destroyed.