Five people have been killed after Cyclone Kenneth struck northern Mozambique on Thursday.
Photo: AFP This aerial photograph shows the damaged communities in Macomia district, Mozambique, on April 27, 2019 following the destruction by Cyclone Kenneth.
Thousands of people in remote areas of the storm-lashed country were homeless Saturday and bracing for imminent flooding, food and water shortages as Kenneth flattened entire villages, leaving rescuers struggling to reach them.
Kenneth made landfall barely a month after the country was hit by one of the worst storms in its history, which claimed hundreds of lives.
"Too many small communities are completely destroyed, not a single house is standing anymore. I could see around 10 communities in this situation," said Saviano Abreu, a spokesman for the UN's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).
"On Ibo (island), not only the main village but also other communities are destroyed," he added after a first air reconnaissance mission.
In the village of Nacate, south of Macomia in the cyclone-ravaged Cabo Delgado province, many homes were destroyed, leaving families to fend for themselves in the open.
The UN's children's agency UNICEF said about 368,000 children were "at risk and potentially in need of lifesaving humanitarian support" following the second storm.
Prime Minister Carlos Do Rosario told reporters in Pemba - capital of Cabo Delgado - the death toll stood at five.
The Category Three storm reached Mozambique after swiping the Comoros islands.
"Tropical Cyclone Kenneth has now 'stalled' over Cabo Delgado... where it is expected to bring heavy rains in the coming days," the OCHA said.
"The stalling of the weather system is likely to cause significant flooding in Cabo Delgado, as well as high rainfall in southern Tanzania, over the next 10 days," the agency warned.
Mozambique's emergencies agency, the INGC, has reported severe flooding, mudslides and widespread power outages.
It said Kenneth - which has receded into a tropical depression - had damaged or destroyed 3,300 homes, and about 18,000 people were housed in emergency shelters.
On Saturday morning, emergency workers including Brazilian soldiers, OCHA personnel and officials from UNICEF, arrived in Pemba to assess the damage.
Communities in central Mozambique are still reeling from Cyclone Idai, which hit on the night of March 14-15, causing killer floods that swept away homes, roads and bridges.
The storm also smashed into Zimbabwe and Malawi. In the three countries, more than a thousand lives were lost, and damage is estimated at around $2 billion.
