Maputo, Mozambique — Floods have once again covered the road from the central Mozambican port of Beira to Zimbabwe following a new rise in the water level of the Pungue River.

This is the third time within a month that the road has been flooded. As before, it is the low-lying stretch of the highway between Mutua and Tica, about 60 kilometres west of Beira, that has been affected.

Earlier reports suggested that the level of the Pungue was dropping. However, on Thursday the water rose again from 8.2 to 8.5 metres at the point where the Beira-Zimbabwe road crosses the Pungue.

The radio quoted Filipe Pangalae, the interim administrator of Dondo district, who said that about 140,000 families were at risk in the Pungue valley.

Meanwhile, the team from the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) that has been assisting the flood relief operations further north, in the Zambezi valley, has announced its withdrawal.

A press release from the South African High Commission in Maputo said that Thursday was the final day for the team's operations.

"Presently, the situation in the Zambezi Valley is stable, and the SANDF has not been engaged in any direct rescue operations for the past few days", the High Commission said.

But it promised that the SANDF "will return at short notice should the weather patterns alter for the worse in the Zambezi Valley".