At least 24 dead, dozens missing as cyclone slams Zimbabwe

At least 24 people have been killed and dozens are missing in parts of eastern Zimbabwe hit by the peripheral effects of tropical cyclone Idai which lashed neighbouring Mozambique, government said yesterday. Zimbabwe’s ministry of information announced on Twitter that so far the “number of deaths is confirmed at 24 mainly from Chimanimani East,” including two students, while at least 40 other people have been injured.

Many houses have been damaged and bridges washed away in parts of the Manicaland province which borders Mozambique. A group of people who fled their homes were “marooned” on top of a mountain waiting to be rescued, but strong winds were hampering helicopter flights, the ministry said. Earlier a lawmaker told AFP that thousands of people have been affected, power cut off and major bridges flooded. “The information we have so far is that over 100 people are missing and some of them” may have died, Joshua Sacco, a member of parliament in Chimanimani district, said.

“At least 25 houses were swept away following a mudslide at Ngangu township in Chimanimani urban. There were people inside. They are part of the missing,” he said.