(Bloomberg) -- The death toll from flooding in the wake of Cyclone Idai climbed to more than 300 as Mozambique’s government battled to deal with the devastation wrought by one of southern Africa’s most deadly recorded storms.
Almost a week after the Category 3 storm made landfall, heavy rains are continuing to fall over western Mozambique and neighboring Zimbabwe. In Mozambique, rescue workers have saved 3,000 of 15,000 families stranded in flooded areas, but their efforts are being hampered by damage to infrastructure like roads and bridges, Celso Correia, spokesman for the government’s emergency response team, said on Thursday.
“We’re struggling to rescue people, distribute medicines, blankets, shelter,” he told reporters in Beira, the port city that bore the brunt of the storm when it landed on March 15.
To contact the reporters on this story: Borges Nhamire in Maputo at bnhamire@bloomberg.net;Matthew Hill in Maputo at mhill58@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Antony Sguazzin at asguazzin@bloomberg.net, Paul Richardson, Michael Gunn
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