Cyclone survivors in Zimbabwe compile tearful list of dead parents

The agony is carved on the face of Tapiwa Chanyawo when he recounts the night of the storm, a mudslide took away their home and his family pbaded away.

Their home, located in the Chimanimani town in eastern Zimbabwe, was on Idai Road – a gigantic tropical cyclone that may have killed more than a thousand people.

"My father, my mother, my two sisters, the eldest and his child, all died," Chanyawo told AFP from his bed at a local hospital, counting the numbers on his fingers.

His family was among the 98 confirmed dead in Zimbabwe. At least 217 people are missing and 44 others blocked, according to the Ministry of Information.

The storm hit Friday night after its first influx into central Mozambique. Its president, Filipe Nyusi, said Monday that at least a thousand people would have perished.

More than 100 houses in Ngangu County, Chimanimani, were destroyed by heavy rains, strong winds and rolling rocks.

The structures are made of home-baked bricks and corrugated iron sheets.

Houses of this type are a familiar sight across Zimbabwe and are known for their resilience.

But, in Ngangu, they were no match for a storm that squeezed the winds of a hurricane force, driving rain and mudslides.

Jane Chitsuro, 42, miraculously survived but struggled to hold back tears of loss.

"I do not know where my daughter is buried in the debris," she said, her head wrapped in a bandage.

"There is no house left to talk, no furniture, nothing to wear or cover, only mbades of bricks and broken rocks."

The face of Louange Chipore is bruised and swollen – obvious evidence of what happened to her Friday night.

"A flood arrived and my house was destroyed and I was buried under it.My daughter who was with me on the bed was swept away by me, then a bigger flood carried me away. further, "said Chipore.

Sadness invaded the chimanimani community on Monday, as families began to bury their dead in wet graves, with some family members sharing a grave.

A tractor made several trips with coffins made from raw wood by local carpenters at the burial site.

Chimanimani is one of the most scenic areas of Zimbabwe, a verdant place of mountains, waterfalls and rainforests very popular with tourists.

But the scene that followed Hurricane Idai was marked by terrible desolation.

The storm has not only destroyed homes. She also washed the crops awaiting harvest in the fields and demolished bridges, leaving behind destructions that, said Acting Defense Minister, Perrance Shiri, "look like the consequences of a war in large scale".

Some roads were engulfed by gigantic sinkholes, a business center was destroyed and bridges were destroyed by sudden floods.

"These are the worst infrastructure damage we have ever suffered," said Zimbabwe's Minister of Transport and Infrastructure Development, Joel Biggie Matiza.

The district of Chimanimani, in the east of the country, was the most affected, with houses and most bridges in the area destroyed by sudden floods.

Some of the most affected areas are not yet accessible, and strong winds and dense clouds have prevented the flight of military rescue helicopters.

Two students and a worker from a local high school were killed after a landslide sent a rock crashing into their dormitory.

The soldiers helped Sunday to rescue nearly 200 surviving students, teachers and staff members who had been stranded at the Chimanimani school.

Most of the disappeared are believed to be government employees, whose housing complex has been completely engulfed by rushing waters. Their fate was unknown because the region was still inaccessible.

Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa, who interrupted a visit to Abu Dhabi, visited the affected areas on Tuesday.

pho-strs-fj / sn / ri