The number of confirmed deaths attributed to Cyclone Idai continues to rise. The latest update numbers 294 dead, according to Saviano Abreu of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), A Verdade reports.
“The affected area is much bigger than we thought: there is almost 125 kilometres of floodplain area,” he said. “It’s a complicated and difficult situation. Communications still aren’t working. Yesterday, we discovered some flooded areas which we hadn’t even known about.”
The number of dead rose by 92 throughout Thursday. Among them are 47 bodies found floating in Nhamatanda in Sofala province. The remaining 45 were located and removed at Dombes administrative post, Sussundenga district, Manica province.
Search and rescue operations based at Beira International Airport report countless people still stranded in trees and on the roofs of the few buildings still standing, isolated since Saturday when the Búzi and Púnguè basins flooded with water coming from Zimbabwe.
The authorities estimate that 60,000 citizens in Sofala province alone need rescuing, but there are many others in Manica province too.
“We already said that, in time, the numbers would rise, and that is what is happening” – Nyusi
President Nyusi of Mozambique says that the death toll is bound to rise still further as the days pass and improving weather conditions bring more corpses to light. The head of state, at the peak of the tragedy, said that the dead could eventually number more than a thousand.
“With regard to deaths, we are still updating the numbers. They are rising all the time. When the floods recede, we will find more bodies,” he said, cited by a Verdade. “When I addressed the nation and the world, I said that, in time, the numbers would rise. And that is what is happening,” the president said.
President Nyusi was in Tete yesterday.
Source: Observador / A Verdade