The President of Mozambique Filipe Nyusi in an address via the national radio said that more than 1,000 people may have been killed by Cyclone Idai.
“Officially, we have a record of more than 84 dead but everything indicates that we can have a record of more than 1,000 dead and more than 100,000 people are in danger,” Nyusi said.
The President assisted the damage by taking a flight over the affected areas.
He added the situation a “real humanitarian disaster of large proportions.”
The Cyclone Idai made landfall near Beira around midnight on Thursday last week and moved into neighboring Zimbabwe and Malawi.
Initial estimates suggested that the death toll not more than 150, however Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) warned of the death toll climbing. The cyclone caused massive destruction to the coastal city of Beira in Mozambique, and was cut off from the rest of the world.
In a statement IFRC said, “The situation is terrible. The scale of devastation is enormous. Almost everything is destroyed. Communication lines have been completely cut, and roads have been destroyed. Some affected communities are not accessible.”
Meanwhile the Zimbabwe President Emmerson Mnangagwa declared the cyclone a disaster to mobilize funding for rescue and relief. The official death toll in Zimbabwe published by the government stood at 89. However authorities said that many were still missing after the cyclone rains that triggered floods sweeping away homes.