Cyclone Kenneth has killed at least one person and left a trail of destruction in northern Mozambique, destroying houses, ripping up trees and knocking out power, authorities said on Friday.
The cyclone brought storm surges and wind gusts of up to 280km an hour when it made landfall on Thursday evening, after killing three people in the island nation of Comoros.
Wind speeds have since decreased with an average strength of 100 to 120km/h although it is still causing destruction, the South African Weather Service (SAWS) said on Friday.
It was the most powerful storm on record to hit Mozambique’s northern coast and came just six weeks after Cyclone Idai battered the impoverished nation, causing devastating floods and killing more than 1 000 people across a swathe of Southern Africa.
Cyclone Kenneth is expected to weaken on Saturday and Sunday as it moves to southern Tanzania, still causing flooding, the SAWS said.
The World Food Programme warned that Kenneth could dump as much as 600mm of rain on the region over the next 10 days – twice the amount that Cyclone Idai brought.
One woman in the port town of Pemba died after being hit by a falling tree, the Emergency Operations Committee for Cabo Delgado (COE) said in a statement, while another person was injured.
In rural areas outside Pemba, many homes are made of mud. In the main town on the island of Ibo, 90% of the houses were destroyed, officials said. Around 15 000 people were out in the open or in “overcrowded” shelters and there was a need for tents, food and water, they said.
There were also reports of a large number of homes and some infrastructure destroyed in Macomia, a mainland district adjacent to Ibo
