Cyclone hits Mozambique

2008-03-08 16:03

Maputo, Mozambique - A tropical cyclone hit northern and central Mozambique on Saturday destroying homes and cutting power lines, state media reported.

Cyclone Jokwe lashed Mozambique Island before hitting the northern coastal province of Nampula, traveling with winds of up to 130 kilometres per hour, Radio Mozambique said.

No casualties have been reported and the extent of the damage is not yet known.

The government declared a red alert, the highest level, in Nampula and a lesser, yellow, alert in the central provinces amid fears the storm will cause more damage.

Cyclone Jokwe is moving in a southwesterly direction toward the inland districts of Nampula and is expected to hit the central province of Zambezia on Monday, bringing with it moderate rain.

The cyclone brushed the northern tip of Madagascar on Wednesday before crossing the Mozambique Channel.

Flooding - the worst since 2001 when 800 people died - is slowly subsiding in many parts of northern and central Mozambique. But there are fears that the cyclone could wreak new devastation.

Minister of State Administration Lucas Chomera, who is deputy chairperson of the Disaster Management Coordinating Council, told the radio that the government was still assessing the damage.

He said the disaster relief teams were in the storm-hit areas to assist provincial authorities.

Mozambique and Madagascar regularly suffer from cyclones in the southern Indian Ocean at this time of year and there are fears that global warming may exacerbate the cyclone season.

Cyclone Ivan which slammed into the east coast of Madagascar on February 17, left 83 people dead, 177 missing, and 187 000 people homeless. An earlier storm, Cyclone Fame, killed 13 people.

Last year was the worst season on record - six cyclones killed about 150 people.

- AP