Maputo, Mozambique — Mozambican President Joaquim Chissano Wednesday appealed to the international community for additional assistance to victims of floods in the country's central region.

"It continues raining in the entire sub-region of Southern Africa and there is the threat of a tropical depression that is building up in the Mozambique Channel, thus making prospects in the short term extremely alarming," Chissano told the diplomatic corps in Maputo.

Chissano said "our major difficulties concern the shortage of logistics, namely planes and larger and more powerful boats to overcome the currents in rescue operations."

The flooding in central Mozambique has already claimed 75 lives and displaced 81,300 people.

In the Zambezi valley more than 32,500 hectares of cropland have been destroyed, affecting some 50,000 families, Chissano told the diplomats.

Furthermore, at least 183 schools were closed down because of the floods.