Mozambique attacked by Cyclone Dineo
Tropical cyclone Dineo has hit southern Mozambique, with roofs blown off, fences and power lines collapsing, streets damaged and trees blocking roads, the aid agency CARE said Thursday.
The cyclone made landfall near Inhambane late Wednesday, according to the South African Weather Service.
Winds blew at 170 km per hour, while rainfall amounted to 250 millimetres in 24 hours in the coastal district, according to Mozambique’s National Meteorology Institute (INAM).
CARE, a major international humanitarian agency said the cyclone had hit the region with 300,000 residents, which had just suffered a severe drought.
“We fear there can now be flooding and that more houses, infrastructure and harvests are destroyed,” said Marc Nosbach, CARE director for Mozambique.
“We are very worried that the first harvest that was expected since two years of drought is now destroyed. People have no more reserves, many have for months eaten only one meal a day anyway.
“This storm has taken from many the last that they still had,” the press release quoted Nosbach as saying.
Acacio Tembe from INAM told dpa that the winds had decreased in intensity and that rains were now mainly affecting interior districts.
The weather was expected to improve by Friday.
Heavy rains were meanwhile also expected in South Africa, mainly in the northern Limpopo and Mpumalanga provinces.