Moroni - Violent winds of up to 140km/h lashed the East African island nation of Comoros overnight,
killing three people, authorities said on Thursday, as tropical
Cyclone Kenneth swept towards flood-battered Mozambique and
southern Tanzania.
The region was pounded by Cyclone Idai last month; the storm
and subsequent flooding killed more than 1,000 people in
Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Malawi.
Kenneth may bring winds of up to 200km/h and torrential rain
to Mozambique, Tanzania and Comoros, the United Nations Office
for Disaster Risk Reduction said on Twitter on Thursday.
In Comoros, the winds intensified around 9pm on
Wednesday, causing widespread power outages in the capital
Moroni and on the other two main islands of the archipelago,
Anjouan and Ngazidja, residents said.
By Thursday morning, fallen trees and debris from homes
lined streets and roofs of some houses had been torn off, a
Reuters witness said.
Three people were killed in the storm and several others
injured, said President Azali Assoumani in a news conference.
"The damage is significant," he said.
The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent
Societies published photos from Comoros of fallen trees and
telephone lines and wrote that "homes and roads are damaged and
destroyed".
In Moroni, a small number of taxis moved around the centre
of the city on Thursday morning and policemen and soldiers were
deployed to remove debris and trees from blocked roads.
Government offices and schools were closed.
Cyclone Kenneth is expected to make landfall on Mozambique's
coast on Thursday, threatening to flood areas where more than
70,000 people live, according the National Directorate for the
Management of Water Resources.
The directorate broadcast warnings that people living in
areas at risk should move immediately to higher ground as aid
agencies prepared for an emergency.
Authorities in Mozambique's northern neighbour Tanzania have
ordered evacuations of residents from low-lying areas and the
closure of some schools and offices before the cyclone hits.
Cyclone Idai lashed Mozambique's port city of Beira with
wind speeds of up to 170km/h on March 14 and heavy rains
prompted flooding which submerged entire villages. Mozambican
health officials and international aid agencies have been
battling cholera in the wake of the cyclone.