At least 31 people have been killed and dozens are missing in parts of eastern Zimbabwe after the country was hit by tropical cyclone Idai which lashed neighbouring Mozambique and Malawi, the government said.
Cyclone Idai has affected more than 1.5 million people in the three southern African countries, according to the United Nations and government officials.
Homes, schools, businesses, hospitals and police stations have been destroyed. Roads have been washed away and thousands are stranded by heavy flooding.
Zimbabwe’s Ministry of Information said on Saturday that the deaths were mainly from Chimanimani East, including two students, while at least 40 other people have been injured.
Serious humanitarian crisis unfolding in chimanimani chipinge most of our structures comms are down.We need state intervention on a massive scale to avoid biblical disaster ,homes bridges being washed away lives in danger @hwendec @daddyhop@kwirirayi @nelsonchamisa @mdczimbabwe pic.twitter.com/QSVEe7yiG7
— MDC spokesperson (@JMafume) March 16, 2019
It added that the Zimbabwean national army was leading rescue efforts to airlift students from a damaged school and others trapped by the storm.
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Mozambique’s Beira takes a direct hit from cyclone Idai
A group of people, who fled their homes, was “marooned” on top of a mountain waiting to be rescued, but strong winds were hampering helicopter flights, the ministry said.
Joshua Sacco, a member of parliament in Chimanimani district, said at least 25 homes were swept away following a mudslide at Ngangu township.
“There were people inside,” he told AFP news agency. “The information we have so far is that over 100 people are missing.”
In a Twitter post, Jacob Mafume, spokesman for Zimbabwe’s main opposition Movement for Democratic Change party, warned that there was a “serious humanitarian crisis” unfolding in eastern Zimbabwe districts.
In Mozambique, where Idai made landfall on Thursday, at least 19 people died and about 70 were severely injured. The storm hit with wind gusts of about 160 kilometres per hour, causing ocean waves of up to nine metres high.
Al Jazeera’s senior meteorologist, Steff Gaulter said a lot more rain was expected over the next days.
“Eastern Zimbabwe reported 400 millimetres of rain over the last 24 hours and there’s a lot more torrential rain to come for central Mozambique and neighbouring Zimbabwe,” Gaulter said.
“Some models are estimating as much as 900mm in the next three days. This would cause immense flooding and trigger further landslides, and the water would then have to drain into the sea. This would mean further flooding would occur as the water surges down the rivers.”
Luis Fonseca, a journalist at Lusa News Agency, told Al Jazeera that the cyclone would continue to create trouble.
