Frustration mounts in Mozambique over food, water shortages after cyclone

The situation in the port city of Beira in Mozambique was “boiling” as residents suffered shortages of food, water and other essentials one week after a devastating cyclone, the head of a South African rescue operation said on Friday.

Connor Hartnady, rescue operations task force leader for Rescue South Africa, said Beira residents were becoming desperate.

“There have been three security incidents today, all food related,” he said while briefing his team late on Thursday night.

Cyclone Idai battered Beira, a low-lying city of 500 000 residents, with strong winds and torrential rains last week, before moving inland to neighbouring Zimbabwe and Malawi.

A stranded family sits on top of their home after Cyclone Idai, in Buzi district, outside Beira, Mozambique, on Thursday (March 21 2019). Picture: Siphiwe Sibeko/Reuters

In Mozambique, 242 were killed in the storm and resulting floods, according to the official death toll, although this is expected to rise. In Malawi, about 56 were killed, and Zimbabwe has recorded 142 deaths.

About 15 000 people were still missing in Mozambique, Land and Environment Minister Celso Correia said late on Thursday. The government is expected to give a briefing on Friday morning to update the number of people missing and dead.

Members of the rescue team prepare to offload a body retrieved from areas flooded in the aftermath of Cyclone Idai in Chimanimani, Zimbabwe, on Thursday (March 21 2019). Picture: Philimon Bulawayo/Reuters

Hartnady also said a group of 60 people had been discovered trapped by flood water in an area north of Beira during a reconnaissance flight. Rescue teams and the government were deciding how best to help them, he said, either by airlifting them to safety or dropping supplies.

Survivors of Cyclone Idai, arrive to an evacuation centre in Beira, Mozambique, on Thursday (March 21 2019). Picture: Denis Onyodi/Red Cross Red Crescent Climate Centre/Handout via Reuters

The storm’s torrential rains caused the Buzi and Pungwe rivers, whose mouths are in the Beira area, to burst their banks.

Roads into Beira were cut off by the storm, and most of the city remains without power. The Red Cross has estimated 90% of the city was damaged or destroyed in the storm.

Secretary-general of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, Elhadj As Sy talks with a survivor of Cyclone Idai at an evacuation centre in Beira, Mozambique. Picture: Denis Onyodi/Red Cross Red Crescent Climate Centre/Handout via Reuters

Zimbabwe’s ministry of information said at least 30 students, two headmasters and a teacher from three schools were missing in the eastern region of the country.

In the capital Harare there were shortages of diesel, leading to long queues following reports earlier this week that a control room for the pipeline in Beira that transports fuel to Zimbabwe had been damaged. – Reuters