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The UN said that the final number of casualties after hurricane Idai in southern Africa more than a week ago will only be known once the floodwaters have receded.
– Publicity –
At least 417 people have now been declared dead in Mozambique, said Minister of Lands and Environment Celso Correia.
The new figure brings the total number of deaths to about 700 in Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Malawi.
We expect it to increase again.
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said Saturday that the Buzi and Zambezi rivers were at risk of breaking again.
"We will have to wait for the floodwaters to retreat before we know the extent of the damage done to the people of Mozambique," said OCHA coordinator Sebastian Rhodes Stampa.
Thousands of people remain trapped by floodwaters and many Mozambican government relief centers have just started receiving food – more than a week after the storm began.
Some 1.7 million people are reported to be affected throughout southern Africa, with no electricity or running water in areas where homes have been swept and roads destroyed by floods.
The media legend has become an inland sea
On Friday, cholera cases were recorded in Beira, central Mozambique.
The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) warned of the risk of epidemics, already pointing to an increase in malaria.
Idai landed near Beira, a city of 500,000, with winds of 177 km / h (106 mph) on March 14.
Aid workers are slowly providing relief, but conditions are extremely difficult, with some areas completely inaccessible and helicopters rare.
Humanitarian organizations said Mozambique had been hit hardest by floods caused by rivers in neighboring countries.
It is estimated that nearly 90,000 Mozambicans are sheltering in temporary sites, while thousands of others are still stranded by floodwaters, reports the AFP news agency.
"We are experiencing an unprecedented natural disaster. A disaster that only corresponds to major disasters, "said Correia.
"Unfortunately, no one in the region and the world could predict a disaster of this size," he said.
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