Pemba (Northeast Mozambique): The death toll from Cyclone Kenneth in northern Mozambique jumped to 38, the government announced on Monday, as flooding and pounding rains hampered efforts to deliver aid to badly hit communities several days after the storm.
An estimated 160,000 people were at risk from the second powerful cyclone to hit the southern African nation in just six weeks, officials said.
It was the first time in recorded history that two cyclones had targeted Mozambique in a single season.
Just as most of the more than 600 deaths from last month's Cyclone Idai were caused by flooding in the days that followed, heavy rains in the wake of Kenneth have raised fears of a similar scenario.
The storm made landfall on Thursday with the force of a Category 4 hurricane.
Flooding was "critical" in parts of the country's northernmost province of Cabo Delgado including Ibo island and the districts of Macomia and Quissanga, where more than 35,000 buildings and homes had been partly or fully destroyed, the government said.
Aid workers have described "total devastation" affecting a 60-kilometer (37-mile) stretch of coastline and nearby islands.
The rising waters have made many roads impassable and hampered air efforts to reach communities outside the region's main city, Pemba.
Authorities were preparing for a possible cholera outbreak as some wells were contaminated and safe drinking water became a growing concern.
Antonio Assane, state health coordinator for natural disasters told Portuguese agency Lusa that a cholera treatement center had been reactivated in Pemba following the heavy rains.
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Authorities were hoping that a forecast of improving weather would allow for two helicopters to start distributing food aid to the north of the country, said Mozambican state administration minister Carmelita Namashulua.
Namashulua appealed for sheltering kits, water and water purification tools as most were left without shelter and drinking water.
