Death toll after Cyclone Idai in southern Africa now exceeds 500
Aid agencies and several governments continued to step up their deployments, with helicopters in short supply for hundreds of thousands of people displaced by the cyclone.
Mozambique's environment minister, Celso Correia, who is heading up the government response team, said in Beira Thursday evening that the confirmed death toll in his country was 242, with at least 142 injured and an untold number still missing. “Now that the water is receding, we fear that we will see even more,” than 1,000, as far more bodies are discovered, the secretary-general of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, Elhadj As Sy, told The Associated Press.
Aid groups were continuing to work non-stop to rescue families desperately clinging to tree branches and rooftops for safety from the surging waters. Zimbabwe's President Emmerson Mnangagwa declared two days of mourning starting Saturday for the victims, saying he witnessed “unmitigated despair” during a tour of the area on Wednesday.Government officials say as many as 350 Zimbabweans may have died in the flooding.
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