Iran Press/Africa: Mozambique reported scores more deaths on Saturday from a cyclone and floods around southern Africa that have killed at least 732 people and left thousands in desperate need of help, many on rooftops and trees.
Cyclone Idai lashed the Mozambican port city of Beira with winds of up to 170 km per hour last week, then moved inland to Zimbabwe and Malawi, swamping populations and devastating homes, Reuters reported.
Mozambique’s death toll rose to 417 from 242, Land and Environment Minister Celso Correia said.
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"The situation is getting better, still critical, but it’s getting better," he told reporters at the airport in Beira that has become a center for aid operations.
The Mozambican minister said some 1,500 people were in need of immediate rescue from rooftops and trees. Helicopters and boats have been carrying people to safety.
The United Nations’ humanitarian office warned that more flooding may come as heavy rains inland poured into the low-lying Beira area and nearby dams filled up threatening to burst the Buzi and Pungwe rivers again.
Left with nothing, many survivors were fretting about their future, while others mourned losses.
The storm has also killed 259 in Zimbabwe, while in Malawi 56 people died in heavy rains ahead of the cyclone.
In all three countries, survivors have been digging through rubble to search for victims and scrambling for shelter, food, and water while governments and aid agencies have tried to rush in help.
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