More rain in Mozambique, deaths up to 38 after second cyclone

PEMBA, Mozambique — More rain is forecast for northern Mozambique, where the death toll from Cyclone Kenneth jumped to 38, as flooding and pounding rains hampered efforts to deliver aid to badly hit communities several days after the storm.

More flooding is expected in the northeastern port city of Pemba and the surrounding areas.

An estimated 160,000 people are 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.

Mozambique’s national weather service on Monday afternoon forecast continued rain in the area. The national meteorological institute said the northeastern region will continue to receive moderate to strong rains, dropping more than 3 inches over the next 24 hours.

Aid workers have described “total devastation” affecting a 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.

A team from the charity CARE Mozambique managed Sunday to gain access to one of the areas hit hardest, Macomia, a district in Cabo Delgado, where 103,000 people were...