At least seven people died as Tropical Cyclone Gombe made landfall on the Mozambican coast on Friday morning.
The cyclone had wind speeds exceeding 200 km/hr as it swept into the country’s north and central areas.
The deaths were confirmed by Mozambique President Filipe Nyusi as he was addressing reporters during a visit to South Africa. He said:
I have briefed President Ramaphosa on the Gombe tropical storm affecting Mozambique since 2 AM today.
Seven people were killed across Nampula province due to fallen houses and other infrastructure (collapsing).
Nyusi said the cyclone’s initial damage was in Nampula Province in Mozambique’s northeast.
The World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) said Tropical Cyclone Gombe made landfall as an intense category-3 cyclone. WMO said in a tweet:
Winds have weakened but the heavy rains bring a threat of flooding in Mozambique and southern Malawi for several days.
A cyclone classified under category 3, according to the Saffir-Simpson hurricane wind scale, has one-minute, maximum sustained winds of between 178 km/h and 207 km/h.
Mozambique has been struggling to recover from a series of devastating storms that have killed scores of people and caused damage to infrastructure.