The first floods have already been seen in some parts of Pemba, the capital of Cabo Delgado province, as well as in surrounding areas.
“We are very worried because according to the forecasts, heavy rain is expected for the next four days,” she added. “We expect the rainfall to be twice as much as that which accompanied Cyclone Idai that hit the city of Beira last month.” According to figures provided by the Mozambique authorities to NGOs, around 200,000 people in Pemba are in danger. In the small village of Mieze, around 20 kilometres to the south west, dozens of people gathered hoping to be rescued by boat.
A number of UN agencies have deployed response teams in Pemba. To the north of the provincial capital, the town of Macomia was counting the cost of the damage on Sunday, with homes and businesses destroyed, roofs torn off, trees and electric pylons uprooted. “We had information of the storm from the weather service but we didn’t realise the scale of the cyclone until it hit,” Macomia’s mayor, Fernando Neves, told AFP.