At least three killed as Cyclone Chido crosses Mozambique

Cyclone Chido claimed at least three lives in northern Mozambique on Sunday, bringing strong winds and heavy rain that destroyed several buildings, according to a provisional toll, after inflicting major death and destruction in France’s Indian Ocean territory of Mayotte.

The cyclone slammed into Mozambique’s northern coastal provinces of Nampula and Cabo Delgado early Sunday, damaging buildings and knocking out power to some areas, officials said. Two people were killed in the Cabo Delgado city of Pemba and a three-year-old child was reported to have been dragged away by the storm in Nampula, the National Institute of Meteorology (INAM) said, releasing a provisional death toll. More than 2,800 people were given shelter in Pemba, it said. Mozambique’s weather office said the storm was expected to bring thunderstorms and strong winds with gusts of up to 260 kilometres (160 miles) per hour to some parts of the provinces.

More than 250 millimetres (10 inches) of precipitation were expected in 24 hours, it said.”In Cabo Delgado, damage has already been recorded, such as the collapse of walls and roofs,” ActionAid Mozambique said in a statement a few hours after the storm arrived on the continent. The impact in Nampula’s Memba district, around where the cyclone made landfall, was expected to be significant but it was out of contact, the non-government group said.

“Several neighbourhoods in Nampula province are without electricity, which can make it difficult to collect information,” it said. UNICEF said “many homes, schools and health facilities have been partially or completely destroyed”. It was assessing the impact and would be delivering medicines, water purification supplies and other essentials, it said in a statement. By the afternoon Chido had weakened over the inland province of Niassa, said the president of the National Institute for Risk and Disaster Management, Luisa Meque.

The institute had not been able to reach all regions to assess the situation, she said. Officials have warned that Chido has a similar intensity to Cyclone Gombe that killed more than 60 people in Mozambique in 2022 and Cyclone Freddy that claimed 86 lives in the country in 2023. Freddy also claimed 326 lives in Malawi, according to UN figures.

More than 1.7 million people were living in Chido’s projected path in Mozambique and 440,000 in Malawi, the UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said. The cyclone hit a part of northern Mozambique that is regularly battered by cyclones and is already vulnerable because of conflict and underdevelopment. Chido is expected to reach Malawi by Monday, bringing significant rainfall to the country which has been suffering from drought, and dissipate near Zimbabwe on Tuesday. The Malawi government announced it had suspended school in 15 of the country’s 28 districts Monday due to the cyclone.