Mozambique received a year’s worth of rainfall following Cyclone Idai

Kenyans have been left in sympathy as Mozambique fights to stand again after a deadly cyclone hit the country leaving more than 466 dead and thousands homeless.

Kenyans have been left in sympathy as Mozambique fights to stand again after a deadly cyclone hit the country leaving more than 466 dead and thousands homeless.

Rescue efforts have meanwhile intensified, reinforced by a 65-member Chinese rescue team, which arrived in Beira on Monday at the request of the Mozambican government, as the number of those affected by Cyclone Idai rose to 794,000.

Post-flood satellite images of Mozambique show that Cyclone Idai submerged about 835 square miles of homes and fields — an area larger than New York City, Chicago, Washington, D.C., and Boston combined.

Mozambique received nearly a year’s worth of rainfall in the days following Cyclone Idai, consistent with findings that rainstorms are becoming stronger and more common as Earth’s atmosphere warms up. After centuries of colonial rule by Portugal and decades of war after independence (in which the U.S. played an active role), Mozambique is one of the poorest countries in the world — a stark reminder of the inherent injustice of climate change, that those least responsible for greenhouse gas emissions are bearing its worst consequences.

In Beira, most of those displaced have found shelter on higher ground in several buildings in the city, occupying some 2,867 classrooms throughout this metropolitan area of 500,000 people.

An estimated 128,000 survivors have made their way to temporary camps near Beira, with an escalating risk of cholera and other waterborne diseases. The Red Cross announced plans to provide humanitarian support to 200,000 people for up to two years. “The scale and scope of suffering and damage is breathtaking,” said Red Cross secretary general, Elhadj As Sy, after touring the region around Beira.

What International media won’t show you. Let’s pray for the people of Mozambique, Malawi and Zimbabwe. 💔🙏🏿 #PrayforMalawi #PrayforZimbabwe #PrayForMozambique pic.twitter.com/BFYJ39ClBz— Gudino (@_Atanasi) March 26, 2019

Idai flattened homes and provoked widespread flooding when it made landfall near the Mozambique port city of Beira on March 14. It then ripped through neighbouring Zimbabwe and Malawi.

Mozambique remains the hardest hit by the humanitarian crisis with tens of thousands of homes destroyed and hundreds of thousands displaced across an area of some 3,000 square km – roughly the size of Luxembourg.

“We can determine the size, we can’t determine the circumstance. So we’re now going out on the ground, dropping people off from helicopters to determine what the critical needs are,” Stampa said.