Cyclone Kenneth has displaced around 21,000 people since it hit last week causing “unspeakable” damage, the International Organization for Migration said Friday.
More than 40 people were killed after Cyclone Kenneth made landfall causing heavy flooding. It was the second major storm to hit the Southern African country in about a month.
“The damage caused by Cyclone Kenneth is unspeakable,” said IOM Mozambique Chief of Mission Katharina Schnoering. “The area is heavily affected; thousands of families are displaced with their homes and livelihoods destroyed.”
The IOM statement said around 21,000 people in northern Mozambique had been displaced and were either living in accommodation centres or staying with host families.
“When the cyclone first hit, in the heavy rain and wind, the entire settlement around our house started to slide away. We ran for our lives. Everything that we had, our home and belongings are gone, all gone,” the IOM quoted one displaced woman, Maria Semao, as saying.
The government of Mozambique says about 200,000 people in total have been affected by the latest cyclone. The IOM has been delivering shelter kits to those left homeless.
When another cyclone, Idai, hit in March, hundreds of people were killed and tens of thousands displaced.
