MORE than 120 people have died and many more are missing in Mozambique and neighboring Zimbabwe on Sunday after tropical cyclone Idai barreled across the southern African nations with flash floods and ferocious winds. Authorities in Mozambique said the toll there had risen to 62 in the center of the country, while Zimbabwe said 65 people were killed in affected eastern areas, after the cyclone tore across the region Friday and Saturday. Mozambique’s environment Minister Celso Correia gave reporters the country’s updated number of deaths in Beira and Dondo districts, but warned: “We will certainly end with a higher toll.” “I think this is the biggest natural disaster Mozambique has ever faced. Everything is destroyed. Our priority now is to save human lives,” he said at Beira international airport, which reopened Sunday after being temporarily closed because of cyclone damage. Idai hit Mozambique first Thursday night before moving to Zimbabwe. In Zimbabwe, eastern Chimanimani district was the worst hit part of the country, where houses and bridges were washed away by flash floods when the storm slammed the area. The most affected areas are not yet accessible, while high winds and dense clouds have hampered military rescue helicopter flights. “So far we are looking at 65 people that have lost their lives,” Joshua Sacco, lawmaker for Chimanimani, told reporters. The majority of those unaccounted for are thought to be government workers, whose housing complex was completely engulfed by raging waters. Their fate is currently unknown because the area is still unreachable. “We are very worried because all these houses were just suddenly submerged under water and literally washed away and that is where we have about 147 missing,” he said. Two pupils at a secondary school in the area were among those killed, after a landslide sent a boulder crashing into their dormitory, the country’s civil protection agency said. Soldiers on Sunday helped rescue nearly 200 pupils, teachers and staff who had been trapped at the school in Chimanimani. The group had to wade through waterlogged and mud-churned roads for some 4 kilometers to reach a relief area, where they were given food and checked by medics. Tents have been set up to provide shelter for those affected by the cyclone and scores of villagers have made their way to the relief area, some having trekked for up to 20 kilometers to reach safety. Roads have been swallowed by massive sinkholes, while bridges were ripped to pieces by the flash floods. The United Nations in Zimbabwe said that nearly 10,000 were affected by the cyclone. Zimbabwe’s President Emmerson Mnangagwa has declared a state of disaster in the affected areas. Idai battered central Mozambique on Friday, cutting off more than half a million residents of the port city Beira where the environment minister said 80 percent of the electricity network was destroyed. “All roads are cut, the infrastructure is destroyed, practically everything is destroyed,” said Correia. Beira international airport was briefly shut after the air traffic control tower and navigation equipment were partially destroyed by the cyclone. (SD-Agencies) |