The Mozambican Government has appealed for urgent humanitarian aid for people displaced by floods as torrential rain continues thorughout southern Africa.

Along with South Africa, Swaziland and Mozambique are experiencing their heaviest rainfall in decades.

The downpours have also spread westward to the normally-arid Botswana, where crops have been badly damaged.

More than 70 people are reported to have died in southern Africa as a result of the floods and tens of thousands have been left homeless.

Mozambican Planning and Finance Minister Luisa Diogo said some $2.7m was needed to provide "urgent humanitarian assistance" for about 160,000 people in the southern province of Maputo.

But she said this would be only preliminary assistance, as up to 800,000 people countrywide could be affected by floods.

At least 27 Mozambicans have been reported dead in the floods.

Mozambique, one of the world's poorest nations, is ill-equiped to cope with the devastation.

Large areas in the south of Mozambique - including parts of the capital, Maputo - have turned into swamps.

All road links into the capital have been cut off, and food and drinking water are in short supply.

The South African Air Force has been helping relief efforts in Mozambique.

Health authorities have warned of possible outbreaks of malaria and cholera both in Mozambique and in South Africa.

Railways cut

In Botswana, hundreds have been left homeless and at least one is feared dead after the rains moved westwards.

In the last three days some 371mm (15 inches) of rain have fallen in southern Botswana - a region which normally receives only 500mm (20 inches) in an entire year.

Police said most of the country's major roads were impassable, and the country's only railway line has been washed away in two places.

In South Africa, at least 38 people are reported dead, and tens of thousands of homes have been lost.

Shack dwellers hit

The worst affected are traditional mud-built houses in rural areas, and the tin shanties in informal settlements.

In Johannesburg, the Jukskei and Klip rivers both rose to eight metres above the normal level on Thursday morning, causing widespread flooding in the townships of Alexandra and Soweto.

South Africa's Government, already under pressure to build new homes to make up for a severe housing shortfall, now faces having to divert money to repair damaged homes.

A large stretch of the Kruger National Park, South Africa's biggest game reserve, has been closed to visitors as a result of the rain, after the military was called in to airlift 200 tourists cut off by the floodwaters.