Cyclone Gombe kills seven in Mozambique

A cyclone struck northern Mozambique leaving at least seven people dead on Friday, President Filipe Nyusi announced on a visit to South Africa.

Cyclone Gombe hit Nampula province overnight Thursday-Friday packing powerful winds — forecast to reach 160 kilometres per hour (100 mph) — and torrents of rain, causing serious damage to homes, the weather service said.

“Preliminary information indicates that there are seven deaths, two in the city of Nampula as a result of collapsed houses and five in Angonche,” 170 kilometres to the southeast on the Indian Ocean, the president said from Pretoria.

“There are communication problems with the most affected districts in Nampula,” he added, warning of a flood risk from the Licungo River.

“There are many fallen trees and electricity poles are on the ground and can cause damage,” Nyusi said.

The cyclone weakened to a tropical storm later Friday but heavy rain continued to fall including over neighbouring provinces.

Electricity and water were cut in Nampula where mobile phone service was disrupted, reports said.

Flights to the province had been halted before the cyclone struck, the national carrier LAM said.

Aid groups were preparing to deploy in the region after Tropical Storm Ana in January left a trail of destruction and killed about 100 people across  Madagascar, Mozambique, Malawi and Zimbabwe. 

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Earlier this week, tropical storm Gombe moved over the northern parts of Madagascar and into the Mozambique Channel. While in the Channel, Gombe strengthened reaching intense tropical cyclone strength, just before making landfall in northern Mozambique.

Gombe is currently situated over the eastern parts of Nampula Province, in Mozambique, said the weather service in a statement on Friday.

Gombe is expected to weaken as it tracks further westwards on Friday, then turn south-eastwards before reaching Malawi, and head back into the Channel on Sunday, at which point it will re-intensify.

“At this stage, there still is some uncertainty with the exact track Gombe will take, however, the most likely projection is that it will remain in a south-easterly trajectory.”

According to the weather service, it poses no immediate direct threat to South Africa.

Additional by Vhahangwele Nemakonde