Hurricane Kenneth: Whole villages destroyed, according to the UN | General news



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A powerful cyclone has "completely destroyed" villages in Mozambique, according to a UN official.

Gemma Connell, head of the Regional Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), said it seemed like some areas had been "crushed by a bulldozer".

Hurricane Kenneth struck Thursday with winds of 220 km / h.

It has been just one month since Hurricane Idai killed more than 900 people in three countries.

In a video posted on Twitter after flying over the affected area, Ms. Connell is committed to working with local authorities "so that people have the supplies they need."

"The weather is always bad, it's still raining," she said. "But fortunately, the winds have stopped."

According to Pumza Fihlani of the BBC, the damage to power lines in parts of northern Mozambique makes communication difficult.

Nearly 20,000 people have taken refuge in makeshift centers, including schools and churches, our correspondent added.

A UN spokesman said that a total of five people are now dead, citing the Mozambican government, according to reports.

A person was reportedly killed when cyclone Kenneth struck after being crushed by a falling tree. The storm also killed three people on the island of Comoros.

Is it unusual for the region?

UN weather experts say it is unprecedented that two cyclones of such intensity hit Mozambique during the same season.

The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) also said there was no precedent for a hurricane hitting the region as far north as Kenneth.

An investigation mission would aim to examine "the impact of climate change and sea-level rise on Mozambique's resilience" to extreme weather conditions.

Amnesty International Secretary General Kumi Naidoo said the two storms were "exactly what climate scientists had warned if we continued to warm our planet beyond its limits".

"There is an unavoidable and burning injustice that we can not stress enough," he said, adding, "The people of Mozambique are paying the price of the dangerous climate change when they do not have enough money. have done almost nothing to provoke this crisis. "

What was Kenneth's impact?

Kenneth made landfall Thursday night in the northern province of Cabo Delgado, with winds equaling a category four hurricane.

The winds eased Friday, but the French weather agency has announced that nearly 800 mm of rain is expected to land on Mozambique in the coming days, nearly double the 10 days of rain that flooded the port city of Beira during the cyclone Idai.

The UN World Food Program announced that it was working on an "emergency preparedness plan" with the Mozambican government and other humanitarian groups.

"The most difficult problem is transportation, we have not yet got a helicopter," said Capt Kleber Castro, a member of a Brazilian rescue team. "We need a lot of support."

The Mozambique National Institute of Disaster Management (INGC) said 30,000 people had been evacuated from the affected areas.

What is the affected area?
The province of Cabo Delgado is not as densely populated as the area affected by Hurricane Idai, and there is apparently more high ground there.

According to reports, thousands of homes have been razed by the winds and Islamist militant violence has reportedly hit the region in recent months, which could complicate humanitarian operations.

Thousands of people have already fled their homes to shelter from violence in IDP camps.

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