African flood 'catastrophe' fear
 The rains are expected to intensify in the coming weeks |
Further rainfall is expected in the coming days and IFRC spokesman Peter Rees called for immediate action to deal with the crisis.
Several people have died and about 70,000 have been displaced by the recent flooding in central Mozambique.
Malawi, Zambia and Zimbabwe have also been badly hit.
"The weather forecast for the next seven days is not good with more rain expected, which could last until April," said Mr Rees, head of the IFRC's operations support department.
"If this happens, southern Africa will certainly face major flooding with potentially catastrophic consequences," he said.
Mr Rees said that the floods also posed a risk for Lesotho, Swaziland and Madagascar and called for immediate action to avert the crisis.
Joao Ribeiro, from the National Institute of Natural Disaster Management, said the River Zambezi was now almost two metres (six feet) above critical level.
"The forecasts we have indicate that the rains would intensify in the coming weeks, to attain a peak in the second half of February," he said.
Aid supplies are being distributed by the UN World Food Programme overland but many of the most vulnerable live in remote and difficult-to-access areas.
Many of those relying on the aid also lost their crops in last year's floods.
Schools destroyed
About 70,000 people have been evacuated from the danger zone, but most have simply retreated to shrinking pockets of higher ground.
There they have been building temporary grass shelters without food, water or sanitation.
 Crops have been washed away and transport links severed |
Seven people are known to have died in the floods - five drowned and two were killed by crocodiles.
The ministry of education said at least 49 schools had been swept away and that pupils would be housed in tents when the new school year started this month.
Unicef and the Save the Children Alliance said it would be distributing tents and school kits.
It said it was helping local authorities with cholera and malaria prevention and sending in equipment to treat water and improve sanitation.
"The number of people displaced is fast reaching a critical mass," said Leila Pakkala, the head of Unicef in Mozambique.
"Urgent action is crucial to prevent outbreaks of diseases, which are of great concern at the onset of a crisis, especially among children," she said.
Seasonal flooding is not unusual in southern Africa but the UN said it was concerned the rains have been heavier and come earlier than the normal February peak this year.
From its head waters high in Zambia and Zimbabwe to the river mouth on Mozambique's Indian Ocean, the Zambezi river valley is a sodden mess.
Seven hundred people died during disastrous floods in 2000 and half a million were left homeless.
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