Mozambique Cyclone Death Toll Soars To 12

Mozambique Cyclone Death Toll Climbs To 12
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The death toll from a cyclone that struck Mozambique this week rose to 12 yesterday after devastating wind and rain lashed the southern African country over the weekend.

Africa Daily News, New York reports that Cyclone Gombe has affected more than 30,000 people while also injuring no fewer than 40 people, and also destroyed more than 3,000 homes since making landfall on Friday.

According to reports, powerful winds reaching 170 kilometres per hour (105 mph) and torrential rainfall have hit the northern Nampula province by the Indian Ocean and neighbouring Zambezia province particularly hard.

Images which were sighted by Africa Daily News, New York showed that, in the port city of Nacala, houses were teetering on the edge of cliffs facing the ocean and walls had collapsed.

Most thatched roofs were damaged and another made of sheet metal lay on the ground after the wind swept away the bricks, while uprooted trees also littered the ground.

Eight shelters have opened in Nampula, Mozambique’s most populous province which suffered death and destruction when Tropical Storm Ana struck in January.

Read Also: Humanitarian Crisis Looms As Cyclone Kills 20 In Madagascar

Mozambique was devastated by Cyclone Idai in 2019, the most violent storm to ever hit the country.

“Gombe arrived with more intensity than Idai, but luckily it didn’t have the same impact, in terms of destruction and the fact that it lost strength right at the beginning,” said Cesar Tembe from Mozambique’s national institute for risk management.

Gombe is now moving towards Malawi, according to Meteo-France.

Around 80 tropical storms or cyclones from above tropical waters around the world each year. The cyclone season in southern Africa lasts from November to April.

This is coming just a few weeks after Cyclone Emnati devastated the island nation of Madagascar, which is still trying to recover from the impact of another cyclone earlier this year.

AFRICA DAILY NEWS, NEW YORK

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