A heavy storm killed 10 people and seriously injured seven others in Mozambique's central province of Manica, state-run Mozambique Television said on Wednesday.

The storm on Monday destroyed more than 100 houses and electricity pylons, the broadcaster said.

Seven of the dead were members of a religious sect attending a church meeting under a tree, the broadcaster quoted Conde Adriano, the Mayor of Chimoio, the provincial capital, as saying.

Heavy rains in Mozambique and neighbouring South Africa in the last month have raised fears of a repeat of massive floods of 2000 that killed at least 350 people and displaced a million others in the centre and south of the country.

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