Flood warning as cyclone makes landfall

THE second powerful cyclone to strike Mozambique in just six weeks ripped off roofs, killed at least one person and dumped heavy rain yesterday as the UN warned of “massive flooding”.

Cyclone Kenneth packed the power of a Category 4 hurricane as it approached Mozambique, with maximum sustained winds of 220km/h, the Joint Typhoon Warning Centre said.

The government said it evacuated about 30 000 people before the arrival of the storm. The winds weakened after landfall, but danger remained.

Over the next 10 days, the cyclone is expected to dump twice as much rain as Cyclone Idai did last month, according to World Food Programme spokesperson Herve Verhoosel.

Idai killed more than 600 people and displaced tens of thousands. This is the first time in recorded history that the southern African nation has been hit by two cyclones in one season, the UN said.

The new cyclone made landfall on Thursday night in a part of Mozambique that hasn’t seen such a storm in at least 60 years, forecasters said. A woman in the city of Pemba was killed by a falling tree, while a “high number” of houses in Macomia district in Cabo Delgado province were destroyed. Four ships sank off Palma town, with no reported deaths, according to reports. On Ibo island, about 90% of houses in the main village were destroyed.

“Cyclone Kenneth may require a major new humanitarian operation,” UN humanitarian chief, Mark Lowcock said in a statement.

“The families whose lives have been turned upside down by these climate-related disasters urgently need the generosity of the international community to survive,” he said.

As with the earlier cyclone, thousands of people in the days ahead could be left exposed and hungry as waters rise. |

AP

SOLIDARMED via REUTERS CHILDREN walk past a damaged building in the aftermath of the Cyclone Kenneth in Pemba, Mozambique yesterday. |