MOZAMBICAN President Filipe Nyusi said Monday that the death toll from Tropical Cyclone Idai could exceed 1,000.

The National Institute for Disaster Management said Monday more than 84 deaths had officially been recorded since the landfall of Idai on Thursday night, bringing torrential rains and devastating winds.

However, Nyusi said the situation could be much more serious in his speech addressed to the nation, after flying over the disaster-hit areas to conduct inspection Sunday.

“Everything indicates that we may register more than 1,000 deaths,” said Nyusi, adding that the cyclone has left the region without drinking water, communications and it has affected the normal functioning of hospitals, schools and other public and private institutions.

“The water of the Pungue and Buzi rivers overflowed, making villages disappear and isolating communities,” said the president. “Bodies are floating. It is a real humanitarian disaster with great proportions.”

If Nyusi’s estimated death toll is confirmed, Tropical Cyclone Idai would be the deadliest tropical cyclone on record to have hit southern Africa.

The cyclone slammed into the southeast African country as a high-end Category 2 storm with 175 kph winds at midnight Thursday, causing widespread devastation, before moving inland into Zimbabwe and Malawi.

Fears are growing for more than 500,000 people in the Mozambique city of Beira, after aid agency officials warned that 90 percent of the area had been “destroyed” by Cyclone Idai, according to some media reports.

The situation in Beira, a low-lying port city on the Indian Ocean, was described by the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) as “terrible” following an aerial assessment conducted by the agency Monday.

IFRC spokesman Jamie LeSueur said that up to 90 percent of the area had been destroyed. “The scale of devastation is enormous,” said LeSueur. On Sunday, a dam burst cutting off the last road to the city, which aid workers are now struggling to reach.

Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) said there was no power in Beira and surrounding areas, and nearly all communication lines had been destroyed.

Nyusi said the government’s concern and priority were to save people’s lives without excuses.

According to the president, the Defense and Security Forces are on the ground to help with the searches, and air resources including helicopters and airplanes were mobilized to Beira, one of the worst-affected cities, to ensure rapid humanitarian assistance.

The disaster has forced the ruling party Frelimo to postpone its central committee meeting to elect the candidate for the October presidential election, which was scheduled for Friday.

“We hope that the government session tomorrow in Beira will make decisions that meet the needs of the people, in order to mitigate the impact and decide the following processes,” he said.

(SD-Xinhua)