Cyclone Idai: Fears for 500,000 people as 90% of Mozambique city destroyed, aid officials say – CNN #ClimateChange #ClimateEmergency #Auspol #Qldpol #NSWpol Where’s the media? #TheDrum @abcnews #StopAdani #ExtinctionRebellionp

Fears are growing for more than 500,000 people in the Mozambique city of Beira, after aid agency officials warned that 90% of the area had been “destroyed” by Cyclone Idai.

The cyclone slammed into the southeast African country as a high-end Category 2 storm with 175 kph (110 mph winds) at midnight Thursday, causing widespread devastation, before moving inland into Zimbabwe and Malawi. 

In an address on national radio Monday, Mozambique President Filipe Nyusi warned that while the official death toll stood at 84, “everything indicates that we can have a record of more than 1,000 dead.” 

Nyusi described seeing “bodies floating” in the water after two rivers broke their banks “wiping out entire villages ” and isolating others. “It’s a real humanitarian disaster of large proportions,” said Nyusi.

— Read on edition.cnn.com/2019/03/19/africa/cyclone-idai-mozambique-zimbabwe-intl/index.html

In Beira, Mozambique’s fourth-largest city and home to 500,000 people, a large dam had burst, further complicating rescue efforts.

Large swathes of land were completely submerged, and in some streets people waded through knee-high water around piles of mangled metal and other debris.

Yesterday, rescuers launched dinghies onto chest-high waters, navigating through reeds and trees, where some people perched on branches to escape the water.

Press link for more: ABC News

‘Worst weather-related disaster’

President Emmerson Mnangagwa said that the government was conducting rescue missions and delivering food aid. 

The UN says the storm is possibly the worst weather-related disaster ever to hit the southern hemisphere, the Reuters news agency reports. 

Floods of up to six metres deep had caused “incredible devastation” over a huge area, World Food Programme regional chief Lola Castro said.

Press Link For More: BBC News

Cyclone Idai ‘might be southern hemisphere’s worst such disaster’

UN officials say floods up to six metres deep had caused ‘incredible devastation’

Press Link For More: The Guardian