At least one person is dead and dozens of homes were destroyed as Cyclone Kenneth moved across northern Mozambique. Authorities say the storm ripped apart trees and power lines, knocking out electricity in hundreds of neighborhoods.
With wind gusts in excess of 174 MPH, Cyclone Kenneth was the most powerful storm on record to hit Mozambique’s northern coast and came just six weeks after Cyclone Idai battered the area. Cyclone Idai sparked widespread flooding and is responsible for the deaths of more than 1,000 people.
The International Red Cross, The World Food Programme and meteorologist all fear flooding from Kenneth could be even more devastating. The storm will weaken but forecasters say it will linger in the area for several days and could dump as much as two feet of rain on already saturated ground.
In the days after Cyclone Idai, heavy inland rains prompted rivers to burst their banks, submerging entire villages, cutting areas off from aid and ruining crops. There were concerns the same could happen again in northern Mozambique.
Before Kenneth hit, the government and aid workers moved around 30,000 people to safer buildings such as schools, however authorities said that around 680,000 people were in the path of the storm.
