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WORLD NEWS Friday 22 March 2019

Death toll from cyclone surpasses 500 in southern Africa

By FARAI MUTSAKA ment had reported more
Associated Press than 920,000 people in the
CHIMANIMANI, Zimbabwe country were affected by
(AP) — A week after Cy- the floods. The agency said
clone Idai lashed southern Idai had had a “limited im-
Africa, flooding still raged pact” on Malawi, and pro-
Thursday as torrential rains jected that the number of
caused a dam to overflow affected people will de-
in Zimbabwe, threatening cline as they return home.
riverside populations. The In Zimbabwe, 90 percent of
confirmed death toll in Zim- the district of Chimanimani
babwe, neighboring Mo- — the country’s hardest-hit
zambique and Malawi sur- — was significantly dam-
passed 500, with hundreds aged, the agency said,
more feared dead in towns estimating that 200,000
and villages that were people would need food
completely submerged. assistance over the next
Aid agencies and several three months.
governments continued Aid has been slow to reach
to step up their deploy- affected villagers due to
ments, with helicopters in collapsed infrastructure,
short supply for hundreds although the military has
of thousands of people dis- been handing out small
placed by the cyclone. People pass through a section of road damaged by the effects of Cyclone Idai in Nyamatanda packets of cooking oil,
Spokesman Herve Ver- about 50 kilometres from Beira, in Mozambique, Thursday March, 21, 2019. maize meal and beans.q
hoosel of the World Food Associated Press
Program told reporters in zambican President Filipe said Caroline Haga of the
Geneva of the “alarming Nyusi has estimated that International Federation of
news” that the Marowan- 1,000 people could have the Red Cross in Beira.
yati dam in Zimbabwe was been killed in his country She said 210 were rescued
hit by heavy rains over- alone. Zimbabwean offi- by five helicopters and 700
night, putting populations cials have said some 350 were saved by boats.
in the region at risk. people may have died in Aid groups were continuing
Zimbabwe’s defense minis- their country. to work non-stop to rescue
ter said more than 120 bod- Homes, villages and entire families desperately cling-
ies had been washed into towns were submerged ing to tree branches and
neighboring Mozambique, across central Mozam- rooftops for safety from the
where residents there bur- bique, where flooding surging waters.
ied them, and more bodies created a muddy inland “A family saw their brick
were still being recovered ocean 30 miles (50 kilome- house swept away from
in rivers, raising the official ters) wide. The U.N. food them. When they went to
death toll in the country to aid agency said 400,000 another house for safe-
259. people were displaced ty, the roof collapsed,”
“Most of the bodies were and “in urgent need of life- Machiel Pouw, Save the
washed into Mozambique saving assistance” in Mo- Children’s response team
and because they were zambique’s coastal city of leader in Mozambique,
in a really bad state, they Beira and flooded areas said in a statement.
could not keep the bod- along the Pungue and Buzi “Another family fled for
ies,” Defense Minister Op- rivers. safety in a tree. There are
pah Muchinguri said, The persistent rains lifted in tens of thousands of heart-
speaking in the eastern city some areas on Thursday, breaking stories like this,
of Mutare. “So they ended and floodwaters began to lives shattered over the
up burying them.” recede in Beira, the worst- past days.”
Meanwhile, the confirmed hit city, and in the coun- It will be days before Mo-
death toll in Mozambique tryside, according to a zambique’s inundated
rose to 217, the Portuguese Mozambican government plains drain toward the In-
news agency Lusa report- report. dian Ocean and even lon-
ed, and in Malawi, at least “Yesterday, 910 people ger before the full scale of
56 people were killed. But were rescued by the hu- the devastation is known.
that was sure to rise. Mo- manitarian community,” WFP said Malawi’s govern-