Middle East & Africa | Beira’s battering

Tropical Cyclone Idai may have killed more than 1,000 in Mozambique

More than 1.5m people have been affected

After the flood
|JOHANNESBURG

AID WORKERS have described it as Mozambique’s worst humanitarian crisis since its 15-year civil war. Nearly a week after Tropical Cyclone Idai walloped the coast before churning inland, the full extent of the damage is still unclear. Beira, a port city of half a million people, was cut off after a storm hit between March 14th and 15th, bringing fierce winds and flooding that destroyed bridges, roads and electricity lines.

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Filipe Nyusi, the president, described seeing bodies floating in rivers as he flew over the region by helicopter. He said the death toll could rise to more than 1,000.

Red Cross workers reckon 90% of buildings in Beira were damaged or destroyed and fear the situation may be worse still outside the city, where floodwaters have yet to recede. In some neighbourhoods, the tops of concrete-block houses were simply blown off. Elsewhere, video footage showed people huddled on rooftops, evoking memories of catastrophic floods in 2000, when the world was captivated by the story of a woman giving birth in a tree she had climbed to escape rising water.

As the storm moved inland, it also swamped southern Malawi and eastern Zimbabwe. Chimanimani, in Zimbabwe, was especially badly hit; it was cut off because of damage to roads. Zimbabwe’s government said 98 people had died and more than 200 were missing. Torrential rains continue to deluge the region, adding to the misery. In all, more than 1.5m people have been affected. The UN has urgently appealed for donations.

A long-term recovery plan will also be needed. The floods appear to have ruined maize crops, raising the risk of hunger. In Zimbabwe, where the government declared a disaster, a drought has already left 5.3m people in need of food aid. With the waters slow to recede, diseases may fester. Schools and hospitals along with bridges and roads need repair.

Policymakers also need to prepare for the future. One challenge is improving warning systems. The Red Cross Red Crescent Climate Centre says that although there were good forecasts of the cyclone, the flooding and landslides it caused were less well anticipated. Low-lying coastal cities such as Beira are especially vulnerable to storms, which could worsen as climate change disrupts weather patterns. The destruction underlines the need to invest in protected infrastructure before the next assault.

This article appeared in the Middle East & Africa section of the print edition under the headline "Beira’s battering"

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