The rainfall, which is affecting the entire country, has destroyed over 66,000 hectares (163,000 acres) of farming land in the central province of Huambo alone, the officials said.

Torrential rains have battered much of Angola over the past month, damaging roads and bridges and preventing aid workers from distributing supplies.

The heavy rain has also raised the risk from landmines in the former Portuguese colony as it uncovers the weapons and sometimes shifts them on to roads.

Angola is one of the most heavily mined countries in the world, a legacy of its decades-long civil war, which finally ended in 2002.

An estimated eight million mines are scattered across Angola, a nation of just under 11 million people.

TERRA.WIRE