MAPUTO, Dec 18 (NNN-AGENCIES) — At least 34 people have died following “one of the most intense storms ever recorded” in northern Mozambique, the country’s National Institute of Risk and Disaster Management (INGD) has said.
Cyclone Chido made landfall in Mozambique on Sunday, after wreaking havoc in the Indian Ocean territory of Mayotte.
Hundreds are feared dead in Mayotte – a French overseas region – and several people – including more than 200 Red Cross volunteers – are thought to be missing.
The INGD has called the situation in Mozambique “heart-breaking” and warned that the death toll is likely to rise.
More than 34,000 Mozambican families have lost their homes to Chido, which brought winds of around 260km/h.
Schools, health facilities and fishing boats were also destroyed.
Chido struck northern provinces that are regularly battered by cyclones. The area is also plagued by attacks from militants.
The cyclone made landfall in Cabo Delgado before travelling further inland to Niassa and Nampula, where a three-year-old girl was among the fatalities.
Most of those killed by Chido were hit by objects that were falling down, such as brick walls, INGD spokesperson Paulo Tomas said.
Electricity and communications have also been upended – state-owned power company Electricidade de Moçambique (EDM) announced that around 200,000 customers are without power.
In Mayotte, widespread damage to infrastructure – with downed power lines and impassable roads – is severely hindering emergency operations.
Chido was the strongest storm to strike the territory in more than 90 years.
The official death toll on the islands has reached 21, but it is thought that hundreds of people may have died.
“We are talking about the entire area, if not the whole island completely destroyed and washed away. What is really scary is the number of people that are still missing,” Tommaso Della Longa, a spokesperson for the International Federation of Red Cross, said.
He added that more than 200 Red Cross volunteers are among those feared missing.
A French MP on the island, Estelle Youssouffa, has said she fears that tens of thousands of people have died as a result of the cyclone.
She said that the magnitude of the destruction was hard to comprehend with 90% of the buildings damaged.
The French authorities have imposed a night-time curfew in Mayotte to prevent looting.
Just last year, Mozambique was left reeling from Cyclone Freddy, one of the longest-lived storms ever recorded in the Southern Hemisphere, if not the whole world.
More than 180 in the country were killed, the World Meteorological Organization said. — NNN-AGENCIES
