Reuters AlertNet Full site
Homepage | Newsdesk | NGO Latest | Crisis briefings | Country profiles | MediaWatch | Jobs | Alerting | Login

NEWSDESK

MOZAMBIQUE: Six dead as category three cyclone hits northern coast
10 Mar 2008 15:29:12 GMT
 Source: IRIN
JOHANNESBURG, 10 March 2008 (IRIN) - Tropical cyclone Jokwe killed six people and destroyed several thousand homes as it hit the northern coast of Mozambique on 07-08 March, according to a senior disaster management official.

Bonifácio Antonio, director of the relief coordination department of the National Disaster Management Institute (INGC) said at least 9,000 houses and more than 200 small boats were destroyed in Nampula Province, and the strong winds accompanying the cyclone blew off the roofs of at least 80 schools.

"At least 25,000 families live in the risk area, in the coastal areas in the north; we are still trying to assess the damage and the number of people who have been left homeless," he said. The impact of Jokwe, a category three cyclone, was not as severe as Favio in 2007, a category four cyclone that destroyed the coastal town of Vilanculos, killing 10 people in the southern province of Inhambane.

Antonio said tents and food had been dispatched to the affected areas, while the army was helping to clear roads blocked by trees struck down by winds that reached speeds of around 200km per hour.

Jokwe has continued to move in a southwesterly direction down the Mozambique Channel. Mussa Mustafa, head of Mozambique's Meteorological Institute (INAM), told IRIN the impact of the cyclone was felt on 10 March in Zambezia Province, which received some rainfall, and that the windstorm was due to reach Sofala and Inhambane provinces, further south, on 11 March.

The cyclone season is expected to last until April. "So we are bracing ourselves for more - there is one already forming on the other side of Madagascar," said Antonio.

According to meteorologists, the 2008 cyclone season in the southwestern Indian Ocean has delivered what might be the highest number of cyclones in a decade because of the climate phenomenon called La Niña.

La Niña is characterised by unusually cold ocean temperatures in the eastern equatorial Pacific Ocean, recorded every three to four years, which cause a ripple effect felt across the globe, making wet regions wetter and dry ones drier.

jk/he

© IRIN. All rights reserved. More humanitarian news and analysis: http://www.IRINnews.org


AlertNet news is provided by
Email this article       Send comments

NGO latest

•  Madagascar, Blown Away
Medair - Switzerland

•  ACT Dateline, Mozambique:
ACT - Switzerland

•  New funding opportunities for civil society to tackle HIV
International HIV/AIDS Alliance - UK

•  International Federation launches emergency appeal for 50,000 cyclone victims in Madagascar
IFRC - Switzerland

•  "There are just so, so many people displaced," says CWS Mozambique partner
CWS

MORE >>

Latest news

•  MOZAMBIQUE: Six dead as category three cyclone hits northern coast

•  Eight killed as cyclone Jokwe lashes Mozambique

•  Madagascar slows destruction of forests

•  Eight killed as cyclone Jokwe lashes Mozambique

•  Cyclone Jokwe flays Mozambique, one killed

MORE >>

IRIN news

Related articles

Breaking stories
MOZAMBIQUE: Six dead as category three cyclone hits northern coast (1 minute ago)

Eight killed as cyclone Jokwe lashes Mozambique (1 minute ago)

AlertNet insight
MEDIAWATCH: Women's Day, a time to grieve, a time to be inspired (1 minute ago)

Aid agency news feed
Madagascar, Blown Away (1 minute ago)

Blogs
Bali climate change talks: 'The long, arduous road' to nowhere? (1 minute ago)

Maps
MAP: Tropical cyclone Jokwe (satellite image) (1 minute ago)


Country information

Facts & figures
Madagascar Mozambique

Del.icio.us Del.icio.us  |   Digg Digg  |   NewsVine NewsVine  |   Reddit Reddit   
Thumb for /thefacts/imagerepository/RTRPICT/2008-02-05T125505Z_01_JOH01_RTRIDSP_2_MOZAMBIQUE-PROTESTS_mainimage.jpg|/thenews/pictures/JOH01.htm
Thumb for /thefacts/imagerepository/RTRPICT/2008-02-04T123418Z_01_AFR06D_RTRIDSP_2_WORLDBANK-ZOELLICK_mainimage.jpg|/thenews/pictures/AFR06D.htm
Thumb for /thefacts/imagerepository/RTRPICT/2008-01-21T182744Z_01_SIN405_RTRIDSP_2_AFRICA-FLOODS_mainimage.jpg|/thenews/pictures/SIN405.htm
Thumb for /thefacts/imagerepository/RTRPICT/2008-01-21T165314Z_01_SIN402_RTRIDSP_2_AFRICA-FLOODS_mainimage.jpg|/thenews/pictures/SIN402.htm
Thumb for /thefacts/imagerepository/RTRPICT/2008-01-21T164853Z_01_SIN400_RTRIDSP_2_AFRICA-FLOODS_mainimage.jpg|/thenews/pictures/SIN400.htm

Thick clouds of smoke rise over Mozambique's capital Maputo as protestors burn tyres on the streets February 5, 2008. One person was killed on Tuesday when police opened fire on a ...


More pictures | Galleries
Disclaimers |  Copyright |  Privacy |  Contact Us |  Feedback |  About Us |  RSS XML

Last updated:Mon Mar 10 15:34:53 2008