Mozambique cyclone death toll jumps to 417
BEIRA (Mozambique): The number of people killed in Mozambique after a cyclone tore through southern Africa and triggered devastating floods has risen to more than 400, a minister said yesterday, as the United Nations warned of the risk of further flooding.
Cyclone Idai lashed the Mozambican port city here with winds of up to 170kph last week, then moved inland to Zimbabwe and Malawi, flattening buildings and putting the lives of millions at risk.
“The situation is getting better, still critical, but it’s getting better,” Land and Environment Minister Celso Correia said, adding that it was becoming easier to work on the ground.
“But unfortunately, the number of dead is increasing, we have now 417 people who have lost their lives,” he said.
The floods have left thousands of people scrambling for shelter, food and water. Correia said 1,500 people were in need of rescue from rooftops and trees.
The storm's rains caused the Buzi and Pungwe rivers to burst their banks, and the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said there was “always the risk of more flooding”.
The storm has killed 259 in Zimbabwe, and the number was expected to rise. In Malawi, 56 people died in heavy rains before the onset of Cyclone Idai.
The International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies said on Friday that cases of cholera had been reported here.