Africa

Mozambique cyclone death toll climbs to 417: government

  BEIRA, Mozambique (AFP) — The death toll in Mozambique has climbed to 417 after a cyclone devastated swathes of the southern African country, flooding thousands of square kilometres (miles), the government said Saturday. Cyclone Idai smashed into the coast of central Mozambique on Friday last week, unleashing hurricane-force winds and rains that flooded the hinterland and drenched eastern Zimbabwe. “At this time 417 deaths have been recorded,” Lands and Environment Minister Celso Correia told […]

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Idai disaster: Stranded victims still need rescue from heavy rains as UN scales up response

Dire conditions persist in vast areas of southern Africa affected by Cyclone Idai as heavy rain continues to cause “massive destruction”, the UN said on Thursday, while aid teams scale up efforts to reach those most in need. Warning that the situation is likely to deteriorate, the World Food Programme (WFP) said that people are still stranded on rooftops after the storm began its sweep through Mozambique, Malawi and Zimbabwe six days ago. In Mozambique […]

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Toll from cyclone-hit southern Africa surges as UN launches health aid

by Adrien BARBIER and Joaquim NHAMIRRE BEIRA, Mozambique (AFP) — The death toll from a cyclone that ravaged three southern African countries last week headed Thursday towards 400, as officials estimated that more than 1.7 million people had been affected by the storm and 15,000 people were still stranded in floodwater. As the toll surged from the region’s biggest storm in years, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced plans to tackle an emerging threat to […]

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Aid agencies struggle to rescue Mozambique cyclone victims as waters rise

by Adrien BARBIER and Joaquim NHAMIRRE International aid agencies raced Wednesday to rescue survivors and meet spiralling humanitarian needs in three impoverished countries battered by one of the worst storms to hit southern Africa in decades. Five days after tropical cyclone Idai cut a swathe through Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Malawi, the confirmed death toll stood at more than 300 and hundreds of thousands of lives were at risk, officials said. “We’ve thousands of people… in […]

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Mozambique cyclone death toll surges to more than 200: president

BEIRA, Mozambique (AFP) — The death toll in Mozambique after Tropical Cyclone Idai struck the southern African nation last week has climbed to more than 200, President Filipe Nyusi said Tuesday. “According to the information given to us here… we already have more than 200 dead, and nearly 350,000 people are at risk,” the president said after attending a cabinet meeting in the storm-stricken central city of Beira. The confirmed death toll stood at 202, […]

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More than 1,000 feared dead in Mozambique storm

by Adrien BARBIER with Zinyange AUNTONY in Chimanimani BEIRA, Mozambique (AFP) — More than a thousand people are feared to have died in a cyclone that smashed into Mozambique last week, while scores were killed and more than 200 are missing in neighboring Zimbabwe. The city of Beira in central Mozambique bore Cyclone Idai’s full wrath on Thursday before the storm barrelled on to neighboring Zimbabwe, unleashing fierce winds and flash floods and washing away […]

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Over 160 dead in Zimbabwe, Mozambique as cyclone destroys city

  by Adrien BARBIER with Zinyange AUNTONY in Chimanimani Agence France Presse BEIRA, Mozambique (AFP) — A cyclone that ripped across Mozambique and Zimbabwe has killed at least 162 people with scores more missing and caused “massive and horrifying” destruction in the Mozambican city of Beira, authorities and the Red Cross said Monday. Cyclone Idai tore into the centre of Mozambique on Thursday night before barreling on to neighbouring Zimbabwe, bringing flash floods and ferocious […]

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Black boxes show ‘clear similarities’ with Indonesia crash, Ethiopia says

by Chris Stein ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia (AFP) — Black box data recovered from an Ethiopian Airlines plane that crashed last week show “clear similarities” with a recent crash in Indonesia of the same type of aircraft, Ethiopia’s transport minister said on Sunday. While declining to give details, Dagmawit Moges told journalists the parallels would be the “subject of further study during the investigation,” with a preliminary report issued in “30 days”. The announcement came a […]

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More than 120 dead after cyclone hits Mozambique, Zimbabwe

by Adrien BARBIER with Zinyange AUNTONY in Chimanimani BEIRA, Mozambique (AFP) — More than 120 people have died and many more are missing in Mozambique and neighbouring Zimbabwe on Sunday after tropical cyclone Idai barrelled across the southern African nations with flash floods and ferocious winds. Authorities in Mozambique said the toll there had risen to 62 in the centre of the country, while Zimbabwe said 65 people were killed in affected eastern areas, after […]

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At least 24 dead, dozens missing in Zimbabwe after cyclone

    by Fanuel JONGWE Agence France Presse HARARE, Zimbabwe (AFP) — At least 24 people have been killed and dozens are missing in parts of eastern Zimbabwe hit by the peripheral effects of tropical cyclone Idai which lashed neighbouring Mozambique, government said Saturday. Zimbabwe’s ministry of information announced on Twitter that so far the “number of deaths is confirmed at 24 mainly from Chimanimani East,” including two students, while at least 40 other people […]

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19 killed, Beira city shut off as tropical cyclone slams Mozambique

  by Joaquim Nhamirre Agence France Presse MAPUTO, Mozambique (AFP) — Tropical cyclone Idai battered central Mozambique on Friday killing at least 19 people and cutting off more than half a million people in one of the country’s largest cities Beira. State broadcaster Radio Mocambique, said “preliminary information points to 19 deaths and more than 70 injured in Sofala province as a result of cyclone Idai”. Most of the deaths occurred in Beira — a […]

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Mozambique cancels domestic flights as storm nears

MAPUTO, Mozambique (AFP) — Mozambique has canceled flights to several domestic destinations as a tropical cyclone, potentially the strongest to hit the country in nearly two decades, approached threatening to bring chaos to southern Africa. The wave of cancellations came as the UN warned that “tropical cyclone Idai has regained intensity and is expected to make landfall near Beira city in central Mozambique” later Thursday. At least 126 people have been killed in Mozambique, Malawi […]

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