Mozambique says death toll rises to 446 after cyclone

Reuters

Mozambique has recorded more deaths from a cyclone and floods around southern Africa, a government minister said on Sunday, with hundreds left in camps after homes were destroyed.

Cyclone Idai lashed the Mozambican port city of Beira with winds of up to 170 kilometers per hour (kph), then moved inland to Zimbabwe and Malawi, flattening buildings and putting the lives of millions at risk.

Mozambique’s Land and Environment Minister Celso Correia told journalists that the death toll had risen to 446 from 417, adding that 531,000 people had been affected by the disaster and 110,000 were in camps.

The storm has also killed scores of people in Zimbabwe, with the United Nations’ migration agency reporting that 259 people had been killed while its humanitarian arm OCHA said the death toll was at 154.