Cyclone destroys parts of Mozambique, Zimbabwe
MAPUTO, Mozambique — “Total destruction,” is how one resident of Beira described the Mozambican city in the aftermath of cyclone Idai.
“Not even photos can accurately show the extent of destruction. Fallen trees, destroyed houses,” engineer Imran Abdul Sacur told dpa on Tuesday in the capital Maputo, where he had travelled to pick up essential supplies.
Sacur’s family survived the deluge, but are now camped out at another relative’s house, he said, adding that prices are rising in the wake of the disaster.
“Prices are rising exponentially ... A single candle would cost you 50 Mozambican meticals (0.8 dollars),” he said.
“Most ATMs are not working in Beira so I’m withdrawing as much money as I can in Maputo,” he told dpa.
Many Mozambicans were still without power and water on Tuesday, days after cyclone Idai wreaked havoc across parts of Southern Africa.
The official death toll in Mozambique stands at 84, though the country’s president said on Monday he feared it could reach as high as 1,000.
Red Cross and Red Crescent helpers reported that 90 percent of buildings had been destroyed in Beira.
As many as 400,000 people are thought to have been displaced by the storm and the flooding it caused.
UN operations in Mozambique are currently focused on saving people who are surrounded by flood water, UN officials said.
“Several thousand are fighting for their lives, sitting on rooftops and other elevated locations,” Christophe Boulierac, spokesman for the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), said.
“What we have seen is an incredible devastation,” the World Food Programme’s director for Southern Africa, Lola Castro, told a Geneva press conference from Johannesburg.
Aid providers are grappling with the loss of critical infrastructure during cyclone Idai, such as air traffic control, communications, bridges and port cranes to offload ships in the city of Baira, she said.
Renato Solomone, a spokesman for Mozambique’s National Directorate of Water, said the “situation is severe ... . There’s no water from the system.”
Water is being supplied by trucks and is also available in water tanks in Beira, he said.
Moises Mabunda, the director of the communication department at the Mozambican power company EDM, told dpa it was hard to gauge the level of destruction of power infrastructure.
“We can’t contact our teams on the ground, therefore can’t predict when we’re restoring power or how many people are affected,” he added.
“We can say many towers and power stations were destroyed.”
The category-4 storm made landfall on Friday after brewing in the Indian Ocean, bringing up to 100-mile-perhour winds to central Mozambique before weakening slightly and heading towards Zimbabwe.
Zimbabwe’s President Emmerson Mnangagwa was expected to travel to the affected area of his country on Tuesday, where almost 100 people have died.
The European Union has pledged almost $4 million in emergency relief to the countries affected.
“The EU stands in solidarity with all those people affected by Cyclone Idai in Mozambique, Malawi and Zimbabwe,” said Commissioner for Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Management Christos Stylianides in a statement.
“The funding will be used to provide logistical support to reach affected people, emergency shelter, hygiene, sanitation, and health care,” the statement said.