At least 24 people have been killed and dozens are missing in parts of eastern Zimbabwe hit by the peripheral effects of tropical cyclone Idai which lashed neighbouring Mozambique, the government said on Saturday.<\/p>\n
Zimbabwe\u2019s ministry of information announced on Twitter that so far the \u201cnumber of deaths is confirmed at 24 mainly from Chimanimani East,\u201d including two students, while at least 40 other people have been injured.<\/p>\n
Many houses have been damaged and bridges washed away in parts of the Manicaland province which borders Mozambique.<\/p>\n
A group of people who fled their homes were \u201cmarooned\u201d on top of a mountain waiting to be rescued, but strong winds were hampering helicopter flights, the ministry said.<\/p>\n
Earlier a lawmaker told AFP that thousands of people have been affected, power cut off and major bridges flooded.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe information we have so far is that over 100 people are missing and some of them\u201d may have died, Joshua Sacco, a member of parliament in Chimanimani district, told AFP.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt least 25 houses were swept away following a mudslide at Ngangu township in Chimanimani urban. There were people inside. They are part of the missing,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u2018Serious humanitarian crisis\u2019<\/p>\n
Zimbabwe\u2019s opposition Movement for Democratic Change spokesman Jacob Mafume tweeted that a \u201cserious humanitarian crisis (is) unfolding\u201d in eastern Zimbabwe districts.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe need state intervention on a massive scale to avoid biblical disaster,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The ministry of information said the Zimbabwean national army was leading the rescue efforts.<\/p>\n
One school has been shut in the area and students were waiting to be airlifted to safety.<\/p>\n
When the cyclone hit Mozambique, authorities there were forced to close the international airport in the port city of Beira after the air traffic control tower, the navigation systems and the runways were damaged by the storm.<\/p>\n
An official at the National Institute of Disaster Management (NIDM) of Mozambique told AFP on Friday \u201cthere is extreme havoc\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cSome runway lights were damaged, the navigation system is damaged, the control tower antennas and the control tower itself are all damaged.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe runway is full of obstacles and parked aircrafts are damaged.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
At least 24 people have been killed and dozens are missing in parts of eastern Zimbabwe hit by the peripheral effects of tropical cyclone Idai which lashed neighbouring Mozambique, the government said on Saturday. Zimbabwe\u2019s ministry of information announced on Twitter that so far the \u201cnumber of deaths is confirmed at 24 mainly from Chimanimani […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":5720,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,4,8,35],"tags":[128,70,340,55,205],"class_list":{"0":"post-5718","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-all-news","8":"category-community","9":"category-head-lines","10":"category-homepage-english","11":"tag-community","12":"tag-death","13":"tag-disaster","14":"tag-government","15":"tag-minister"},"yoast_head":"\n