Southern Africa braced as tropical storm hits

By Hassan Isilow and John Cassim

JOHANNESBURG (AA) - Disaster teams were on high alert for flooding across northeastern South Africa on Friday as a tropical storm that killed seven in Mozambique made its way south.

The Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs reported that Tropical Storm Dineo had struck Mpumalanga, KwaZulu-Natal and Limpopo provinces.

Kruger National Park, which lies along the Mozambique border, evacuated camps and closed roads as a precautionary measure, news website Eyewitness News reported.

“The rain from this system has now started affecting the northeastern parts of South Africa from this morning,” the department said in a statement. It added that up to 8 inches (200 millimeters) of rain and winds of up to 62 miles per hour (100 kilometers per hour) were expected.

The government warned of flooding causing damage to roads and bridges, cutting off communities and displacing others. The storm is expected to lash the country until late Saturday.

Dineo has been downgraded from a cyclone since it landed in Inhambane, southern Mozambique, on Thursday, when winds destroyed 20,000 homes and displacing more than 130,000 residents.

In neighboring Zimbabwe, Local Government Minister Saviour Kasukuwere said the army and air force were on high alert. Two helicopters had been dispatched to Masvingo and Manicaland provinces to help evacuate people stranded by flooding from the Save river.