A storm brewing in the Indian Ocean may cause further destruction in Mozambique just six weeks after it was hit by deadly Cyclone Idai, the aid agency CARE has warned.
According to weather monitoring services, Tropical Storm Kenneth may bring “life-threatening weather” with wind speeds of up to 170 km/h to northern Mozambique, the Comoros Islands and Tanzania over the coming days.
Marc Nosbach, CARE’s country director in Mozambique, said: “This would be a double whammy of disasters. Existing relief resources for Cyclone Idai are not sufficient as things stand. Due to the funding situation our teams are stretched beyond their capacity and responding to another disaster in Mozambique without more resources will be very difficult, if not impossible.”
South-eastern Africa has barely had time to recover from the effects of Cyclone Idai, which hit in March and killed more than 1,000 people in Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Malawi.
Of Tropical Storm Kenneth, Mr Nosbach said: “At least 700,000 people in northern Mozambique are at risk if this storm makes landfall as forecasted.
“Aside from storm damage, the greatest risk will immediately be from flooding due to heavy rains. Rivers in northern Mozambique may flood, especially as at least one of the dams is already close to full capacity. This will make it almost impossible to distribute aid as roads will become impassible.
“Nonetheless, CARE and it’s partner organisations are deploying an assessment team to areas likely to be affected by the coming cyclone and supporting distribution of dwindling relief materials.”
To donate to CARE Australia’s Mozambique cyclone appeal, visit www.care.org.au/cyclone
For images or interviews with CARE spokespeople in the affected countries, contact Iona Salter on 0412 449 691.
