Finally the weather from TC IDAI has cleared to the NE.
Beira foreshore drone video at link:
https://www.sbs.com.au/news/cyclone-idai-death-toll-exceeds-500-as-frantic-rescue-operation-underway
Cyclone Idai: Death toll exceeds 500 as frantic rescue operation underway
The death toll in Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Malawi has exceeded 500, while 15,000 people still need rescuing.
Updated 1 hour ago
The death toll from Cyclone Idai that hit Mozambique, Malawi and Zimbabwe has surpassed 500, and there are hundreds more feared dead. Rescue workers plucked more survivors from trees and roofs to safety on Thursday, a week after a cyclone ripped through southern Africa and triggered devastating floods that have killed hundreds of people and displaced hundreds of thousands. Helicopters whirred above the turbid, reddish-brown flood waters searching for people to ferry back to the port city of Beira, the main headquarters for the huge rescue operation in Mozambique. The death toll in that country was now 242, Land and Environment Minister Celso Correia said, adding that the number of dead was rising as rescue workers found bodies that had been hidden by now-receding floodwaters. Correia told a news conference earlier that around 15,000 people, many of them very ill, still need to be rescued. “Our biggest fight is against the clock,” he said, adding that 3,000 people had been rescued so far.
In neighboring Zimbabwe, the death toll from Cyclone Idai jumped to 259. The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP), which is coordinating food drops, said 200,000 Zimbabweans would need urgent food aid for three months. In Malawi 56 people were confirmed dead. “This is a human catastrophe of the highest order,” businessman Graham Taylor told Reuters, saying he had seen “hundreds of bodies that had been washed up by the floodwater” while trying to return home after visiting his son in Beira. “What struck me first was the number of people on the rooftops and in trees. You could hear communities shouting for help - for hours, for days,” said Taylor, who also described meeting people on the badly damaged highways heading toward the devastated areas in search of family members. “It was a humbling experience,” he said. “I saw no sign of government assistance.”
Even when people are safely out of the floods, the situation is dire. Some 30 percent of the 88 centers set up by the government for displaced people still have no food, Environment Minister Correia said. Mozambique’s National Disasters Management Institute (INGC) said some 358,000 hectares of crops had been destroyed. Thirty-nine hospitals had been damaged, it said.
A priority for Thursday was pushing into flooded areas that had not yet been surveyed, said Connor Hartnady, leader of a South African rescue task force. Rescuers also want to move people from a basketball stadium near the Buzi River - one of the worst affected areas - to a village on higher ground, where aid organizations are setting up a temporary camp with a capacity of up to 600, he said. Days after the disaster struck, aid agencies were struggling to meet the needs of displaced people.
UN launches appeal
The UN launched an appeal for assistance overnight. "We do not yet know enough about the level of destruction to give an accurate estimate of the amount of this call for funds, but it will be important," spokesman Farhan Haq said at UN headquarters in New York. Aid agencies said they were prepared for the cyclone but not for the massive floods that followed.
The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) said it was sending two emergency units to Beira that would provide drinking water for up to 15,000 people and sanitation facilities for 20,000 people, as well as shelter kits. “More help is needed, and we are continuing to do all we can to bring in more resources and to reach more people,” said Jamie LeSueur, the IFRC’s operations head in Mozambique.
The WFP stepped up airdrops of high-energy biscuits and water purification tablets to isolated pockets of people stranded by the floodwaters.
The US military stands ready to help the cyclone rescue effort, a representative of the US Agency for International Development (USAID) said, according to the minutes of a humanitarian meeting held on Wednesday. China, a major investor in Mozambique, also expressed its willingness to help, Portugal’s Lusa news agency reported.
The Christian charity Tearfund said the timing of the floods was disastrous, with harvesting due to start in coming weeks. Even before the floods, 5.3 million people had been experiencing food shortages, said its Zimbabwe director, Earnest Maswera. Mozambican President Filipe Nyusi, who declared three days of national mourning starting on Wednesday, has said the eventual death toll from the cyclone and ensuing floods could rise to more than 1,000.
Mozambique’s tiny $13 billion economy is still recovering from a currency collapse and debt default.
The cyclone knocked out Mozambican electricity exports to South Africa, exacerbating power cuts that are straining businesses in Africa’s most industrialized economy.
Source Reuters - SBS
https://www.sbs.com.au/news/cyclone-idai-death-toll-exceeds-500-as-frantic-rescue-operation-underway
Cyclone Idai: Africa now has an 'inland ocean' where villages once stood
2019-03-22 05:19
A week after Cyclone Idai hit coastal Mozambique and swept across the country to Zimbabwe, the death, damage and flooding continues in southern Africa, making it one of the most destructive natural disasters in the region's recent history. Floodwaters are rushing across the plains of central Mozambique, submerging homes, villages and entire towns. The flooding has created a muddy inland ocean 50 kilometers wide where there used to be farms and villages, giving credence to Mozambican President Filipe Nyusi's estimate that 1,000 people may have been killed.
'We're hoping to rescue as many as we can'
Torrential rains lifted — at least temporarily — Thursday, and floodwaters began to recede in Beira, the worst-hit city, and in the countryside, according to a Mozambican government report. Aid groups were working non-stop to rescue families clinging to tree branches and rooftops for safety from the surging waters. "Yesterday, 910 people were rescued by the humanitarian community," said Caroline Haga of the International Federation of the Red Cross in Beira. She said 210 were rescued by five helicopters and 700 were saved by boats. "We're hoping to rescue as many as we can today as it is not raining," she said. "Rescue activities will continue until everyone is brought to safety." Aid organizations are trying to get food, water and clothing. It will be days before Mozambique's inundated plains drain toward the Indian Ocean and even longer before the full scale of the devastation is known.
Zimbabwe's eastern mountains have been deluged and the rain is continuing. Aid has been slow to reach affected villagers due to collapsed infrastructure, although the military has been handing out small packets of cooking oil, maize meal and beans. Zimbabwean officials have said some 350 people may have died in their country. The force of the flood waters swept some victims from Zimbabwe down the mountainside into Mozambique, officials said.
With the search for survivors finished, Philemon Dada is has begun rebuilding his life in Chimanimani, once a picturesque town. With a machete and a hoe, he began salvaging poles from the mud to construct a hut to shelter his small family, a first step in what he sees as a long and backbreaking journey to rebuild a life shattered by Cyclone Idai. He is one of many villagers trying to pick up the pieces in Chimanimani after losing homes, livestock and, in many instances, family members. Some have been taken in by neighbors and others are sheltering with church pastors. "I can say I am a bit lucky, my wife and son are still here with me but for everything else, I have to start from scratch," he said. Dada has a few food items handed out by the Zimbabwe military, but he knows that like most aid it is unlikely to last long, and he is eager to start growing crops again. Like many people here, he survives on agriculture. **"My bean crop was ready for harvesting before the cyclone, the maize was close. I am back to zero," **he said. He is particularly pained by his two prized bulls that did the heavy work of drawing the plow for his field. They were killed in the floods. "It may take a year, maybe even more years just to get back on my feet," he said.
https://www.news24.com/Africa/News/cyclone-idai-africa-now-has-an-inland-ocean-where-villages-once-stood-20190322
China to provide humanitarian aid to cyclone-hit Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Malawi
Xinhua, March 22, 2019
The China International Development Cooperation Agency (CIDCA) Thursday said in Beijing that China will provide humanitarian assistance to cyclone-hit Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Malawi. Without unveiling the details about the assistance, CIDCA spokesperson Tian Lin said the Chinese side expresses condolences to the affected people and is ready to offer a hand for the reconstruction work in the cyclone-stricken countries according to the needs of the affected areas. At least 360 people have been confirmed dead in the wake of Cyclone Idai's sweep through southern Africa, according to a UN spokesperson on Wednesday.
http://www.china.org.cn/world/2019-03/22/content_74599569.htm
