The big picture: According to the UN Humanitarian Office, “The situation is likely to deteriorate, and the number of people affected is likely to increase, as weather experts predict heavy rainfall” through March 21, with water levels potentially rising another 8 meters in some places.
“There are also growing concerns regarding the potential effects of the overflow of the Marowanyati Dam in Zimbabwe on water levels in Mozambique,” the office stated.
- Water-borne diseases are a major threat given the lack of clean drinking water in the storm’s wake.
- Herve Verhoosel of the World Food Program said the floodwaters created “inland oceans extending for miles and miles in all directions,” according to the AP.
The impacts: According to the Associated Press, bodies from Zimbabwe have been swept down mountainsides into Mozambique. “Some of the peasants in Mozambique were calling some of our people to say, ‘We see bodies, we believe those bodies are coming from Zimbabwe,'” said July Moyo, the minister of local government.
- The cyclone made landfall near the city of Beira, home to 500,000, as a Category 3 storm. Reports from the city indicate that about 90% of it has been destroyed by a combination of strong winds, storm surge flooding and heavy rainfall.
- “Everyone is doubling, tripling, quadrupling whatever they were planning” in terms of aid, said Caroline Haga of the Red Cross in Beira, according to AP. “It’s much larger than anyone could ever anticipate.”
The bottom line: Mozambique occasionally gets struck by tropical cyclones, but few have been as intense as Idai.
- In this case, Cyclone Idai was able to intensify rapidly in between Madagascar and Mozambique due to light wind shear aloft and warm ocean waters.
- In addition to the storm’s intensity and heavy rainfall, the biggest factor driving up the death toll is the vulnerability of the region — given the relatively poor population and weak infrastructure, which is unable to withstand powerful winds and prolonged, heavy rainfall.