More than 35 000 homes destroyed as TC Kenneth hits Mozambique

Another major natural disaster is affecting Mozambique just 6 weeks after devastating Tropical Cyclone "Idai" left more than 1 000 people dead.

More than 35 000 homes in parts of Cabo Delgado, where Tropical Cyclone "Kenneth" made landfall on April 25 as Category 4 hurricane equivalent, were partially or fully destroyed, officials said April 28, 2019.

More than 160 000 have been affected, many of which are now exposed and hungry.

Government officials said aid workers tried to reach hard-hit areas outside Pemba but were forced to turn back after rivers burst their banks, flooding homes up to their roofs.

Helicopters cannot fly and a number of flights were canceled, preventing humanitarian workers and aid to be delivered by air, the Associated Press reported.

Save the Children organization said total devastation is affecting a 60-km (37-mile) stretch of coastline and nearby islands.

It was reported earlier that an estimated 90% of homes on the tourist island of Ibo were destroyed.

At least 5 people were killed in Mozambique and 3 in Comoros.

"The disaster comes only six weeks after Cyclone Idai devastated central Mozambique, killing more than 600 people, unleashing a cholera epidemic, wiping out crops in the country’s breadbasket, forcing a million people to rely on food assistance to survive, and causing massive destruction of homes, schools and infrastructure in one of the world’s poorest countries," the UN humanitarian chief Mark Lowcock said.

Kenneth is the Category 4 hurricane equivalent to hit the province since records began 60 years ago.

Idai and Kenneth marked the first time in known history that the country experienced two tropical cyclone landfalls in one season.

Featured image: Floods hit Mozambique after Tropical Cyclone "Kenneth" makes landfall. Credit: VOA