By: Jaqueline Diaz Salgado
On March 14, 2019, Cyclone Idai made landfall on the southeast coast of Africa. The winds were reported to be as high as 109 mph, making it one of the worst disasters in the Southern Hemisphere. The storm had caused more than a whopping one billion dollars in damages to infrastructure. There were about 1.7 million people living in the direct path of the cyclone. The death toll has risen to more than 700 people across Mozambique, Zimbabwe, and Malawi, and is still continuing to rise. The category two storm had caused so much flooding that some areas were transformed into inland oceans that can be seen in satellite images from outer space. 90% of Beira, a city of 500,000 people, was destroyed by the storm. Buzi, Central Mozambique, has a population of 200,000 people, many of which are still trapped in their homes. The storm also created conditions for an outbreak to occur; Cholera cases and Malaria infections have already begun to spread in Beira. The situation remains critical as there is no electricity or running water in the affected areas. Some survivors had evacuated onto a highway, but they were forced to lay their eyes upon something nightmarish. As the sun began to rise, it was revealed that dead bodies would float up and would be washed up against the highway road. People tried to leave by joining hands to make a human chain, while other groups climbed trees waiting to be rescued. Over a week after the incident, thousands of people still remain missing around the Southern region of Africa.
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May 2020
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