United Nations gives Mozambique $13 million for Cyclone Kenneth damage

Cyclone Kenneth - packing storm surges and winds of up to 280 km per hour (174 mph) - struck on Thursday night, destroying almost all the homes on the island.

Damaged buildings are pictured from inside a vehicle after Cyclone Kenneth swept through the region in Cabo Delgado province, Mozambique (photo credit: REUTERS)
Damaged buildings are pictured from inside a vehicle after Cyclone Kenneth swept through the region in Cabo Delgado province, Mozambique
(photo credit: REUTERS)
The United Nations (UN) will grant Mozambique and the Comoros Islands $13 million in emergency funds to help provide food and water and repair damage to infrastructure, the organization said late on Sunday, after the second cyclone in a month slammed into the region.

"This new allocation of Central Emergency Response Fund funds will help humanitarian partners to scale up the response to address the needs of those most vulnerable in the aftermath of Cyclone Kenneth," said UN Humanitarian Chief Mark Lowcock in a statement.

Cyclone Kenneth crashed into the northern Mozambican province of Cabo Delgado late on Thursday, flattening entire villages with winds of up to 280 kph (174 mph), killing five people and unleashing heavy rains and flooding that has seen rivers burst their banks.
Heavy rains pounded northern Mozambique on Saturday, fueling fears of flooding two days after a cyclone hit the coast, flattened buildings and knocked out communications.
Aid agencies said they were still struggling to reach victims and work out the extent of the devastation in the northern province of Cabo Delgado.
Cyclone Kenneth - packing storm surges and winds of up to 280 km per hour (174 mph) - struck on Thursday night, destroying almost all the homes on the island of Ibo and killing at least one person in the port city of Pemba, Mozambican authorities said.
Kenneth hit a country still struggling with the aftermath of Cyclone Idai which hit further south along the coast in March, flooded huge areas of territory and killed more than 1,000 people in Mozambique, Malawi and Zimbabwe.
Kenneth is forecast to bring twice as much rain in Mozambique's north, prone to flooding and landslides, over the coming days, the U.N. World Food Program has warned.
The government and aid agencies said 30,000 people had been moved to safety and a total of almost 700,000 were at risk.
CARE said the government had set up 20 evacuation centers in Pemba, but planes were needed as many of the affected areas were not accessible by road.
OCHA posted a picture of a bridge that had been washed away, severing a main road that runs through the district of Macomia, which officials said had suffered heavy damage.

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Mozambican officials said there were reports of damaged houses from the district of Muidumbe, further inland, but the IFRC noted that communications were still largely down there.