Huge water masses, destroyed villages and never-ending rain: Cyclone „Kenneth“ has indeed weakened, but it leaves massive destruction in the north of Mozambique.
The bridge is still standing. The masses of water just flow below it, the river itself has already burst its banks. And that’s just the beginning of the floods. In the port city of Pemba, people have to go through waist-high water if they want to move forward. Already yesterday, many made their way to higher places, with a bundle of essentials on their heads.
There is a lack of helicopters
Aid organizations now fear landslides and the spread of disease. Kleber Castro of the Brazilian military is traveling with his unit in the province of Cabo Delgado to help: „All the information we have tells us that many people in the region could be affected.“ The flooding is widespread and extensive Do not have helicopters yet, so the biggest problem is transportation. “
It had first looked as if Mozambique had been hit a little less bad this time. The civil protection authority had taken thousands of people to safety in time, food had been deposited in the north of the country. Meanwhile, they are spent. How long it will take is unclear. For one thing, Mozambique is still busy dealing with the consequences of Zyklon „Idai“, which had raged six weeks earlier.
But even „Kenneth“, who has now hit a region that had never experienced a natural disaster, was huge. Between what is left of their homes, people are searching for something they may need. The owner of what once was a tea shop sounds sobered. He was standing in the village of Nacate: „Wind and rain have destroyed my shop, I will not build anything new, I had two houses and this shop, none of it is anymore, what am I going to build up again? I would like to build at least one house but I do not even have the funds for that, „he says.
As if a bulldozer had driven over the houses
Thousands have lost their homes in Mozambique’s northernmost province. Gemma Connell of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs describes it this way: Entire villages have been wiped out, they look as if a bulldozer has driven over them.
But that’s not enough. The problem Zyklon „Idai“ has already created, is aggravated by „Kenneth“ even more: There is a lack of food. Between wooden boards and pieces of corrugated iron stands Jamal Amisse. He says: „The wind has destroyed the farms and the palms, there is nothing left on the farms, we have lost everything, there are 300 houses in the village – just everything.“
And even if the cyclone is now only a tropical depression, the weather forecast does not bode well. Because „Kenneth“ is hanging over the region – and until at least Tuesday, it should continue to rain heavily.
