Hurricane Idai devastated 90% of Mozambique's second largest city: more than 200 dead

The Cyclone of Idai that hit Mozambique and Zimbabwe last week, destroying roads, bridges, hospitals, schools and a dam, left at least 222 dead and damaged or destroyed 90% of Beira, the second largest city in Mozambique, said Monday the Red Cross.

Strong winds of cyclones and torrential rains hit central Mozambique on Thursday night and then moved to neighboring Zimbabwe.

According to a final provisional badessment established Monday by AFP on the basis of official sources, 73 people died in Mozambique, 55 in the port city of Beira (center) and 89 in Zimbabwe, where the first responders have difficulties arrive at certain flooded areas.

In Zimbabwe, "89 people were killed, 86 in the Eastern Highlands (east), two in Masvingo and one in Mashonaland" in the east of the country, government spokesman Nick Mangwana said on Monday. .

However. the final figure will probably be much higher. "At the present time, we have officially registered 84 deaths, but when we flew over the area this morning to understand what was happening, there is every indication that we could have more than 1,000 deaths."the president of Mozambique said in a national speech, Filipe Nyusi.

In Mozambique, the damage to Beira, a city of half a million inhabitants, is "huge and terrifying," warned the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent (IFRC), who participates in the first rescue operations.

A "90% of Beira and its environs have been damaged or destroyed," he said in a statement.

"The communications are totally interrupted and the roads are destroyed", which complicates the relief tasks, said Jamie LeSueur of the IFRC of Beira.

On Monday, the streets of the city were full of uprooted trees, broken glbad and curved plates, he said. AFP.

"The hurricane has been extremely violent and has affected everyone – it has destroyed families, houses, there are no words to describe it," said Mohamed Badate, 24, an employee of a clothing company. devastated.

In the region, nearly 10,000 people are affected, 873 houses were destroyed, 24 hospitals and 267 clbadrooms were flooded., according to the report released Monday by the Mozambican Disaster Management Authority.

In Mozambique, "several dams have yielded or reached their maximum level"warned Emma Beaty of the non-governmental organization Oxfam.

Zimbabwe has never suffered from "the destruction of infrastructure of this level," said Transport Minister Joel Biggie Matiza.

The rescuers met Monday in the town of Chimanimani (east), where a school was partially destroyed by a landslide that killed at least three people.

"Teachers and school administrative staff are doing their best to ensure that children return safely," said a father interviewed by public television on Monday ZBC

"But the situation is getting worse," he added, as rain continued to fall in the area bordering Mozambique, where many bridges had been washed away.

Given the importance of the damage, the President Emmerson MnangagwaHe returned hastily on a trip to the United Arab Emirates on Monday.

"Our nation is deeply in mourning," he said. "They tell me that it is not over, the army is doing everything possible to reach the families affectedhe badured.

The Zimbabwe Medical Association (Zima) has appealed to volunteers to help the victims and asked for donations of food, water, gas, clothes, blankets or tents.