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World / Africa

Cyclone death toll climbs to 9 while Comoros struggles to regain power

Published: 29 Apr 2019 - 02:51 pm | Last Updated: 04 Nov 2021 - 05:39 pm
Residents push a car through the floods in Mazive, southern Mozambique, on April 28, 2019. AFP / Emidio Josine

Residents push a car through the floods in Mazive, southern Mozambique, on April 28, 2019. AFP / Emidio Josine

Borges Nhamire and Faiza Soule Youssouf | Bloomberg

The death toll from Tropical Cyclone Kenneth increased to nine as the Indian Ocean archipelago of Comoros struggles to restore power supplies and torrential rains causes flooding in Mozambique.

At least 182 people were injured by the hurricane-strength storm that swept across the two nations last week, the United Nations humanitarian office said in an emailed statement.

Kenneth was the second cyclone to hit Mozambique in two months, after a previous storm in March left more than 1,000 people dead in the southern African nation, along with neighboring Zimbabwe and Malawi.

Most of Comoros’ inhabitants have been without power since latest cyclone damaged the country’s electricity grid last week, the UN agency said.

"The electricity grid is destroyed throughout the country, leaving the majority of people without power and impacting access to health-care,” it said. About 63 percent of the nation’s food crops have been destroyed, while there’s also been a "significant” loss of livestock, the agency said.

Damage in Mozambique includes the destruction of at least 35,100 houses, the UN said.