by The official death toll from Cyclone Idai, which tore through southern Africa more than a week ago, rose sharply on Saturday as authorities reports more deaths.
Land and Enviroment Minister Celso Correia stated that the number of people declared dead in Mozambique rose from 242 to 417, making the new figure of the overall death toll to be about 700 people across Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Malawi.
The storm has killed at least 259 people in Zimbabwe, while in Malawi 56 people died when heavy rains hit ahead of the cyclone.
The UN Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said on Saturday that the Buzi and Zambezi rivers were at risk of breaking their banks again.
The toll is expected to rise further.
But the United Nations said officials will only be able to determine the final casualty figure once the flood waters have receded.
OCHA co-ordinator Sebastian Rhodes Stampa said “We’re going to have to wait until the flood waters recede until we know the full expanse of the toll on the people of Mozambique”.
About 1.7 million people are said to be affected across southern Africa, with no electricity or running water in areas where homes have been swept away and roads destroyed by the floods. Thousands remain trapped by the floodwaters, and many of the Mozambican government’s relief centers have only just started receiving food supplies.
