President Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has sent messages of condolence to Malawi, Zimbabwe, and Mozambique following the devastation wreaked by the tropical cyclone, Idai.
The President made this known in three personalised letters, dated Wednesday, March 20, 2019 to President Filipe Nyusi of Mozambique, President Emerson Mnangagwa, and President Peter Mutharika of Malawi.
“On behalf of the Government and people of Ghana, I extend sincere, heartfelt condolences to you, Your Excellency, and to the brotherly people of Mozambique on this tragedy,” President Akufo-Addo said.
He continued, “You can be assured of the solidarity of the Ghanaian people and its Government in these difficult times. We stand ready to assist, within our modest means, in helping to restore a sense of normalcy to everyday life in the affected communities.”
In Zimbabwe, at least 98 people have died and 217 people are missing in the east and south, the government said.
In Malawi, the UN says more than 80,000 people have been displaced by the cyclone.
Large parts of Mozambique have been engulfed after the cyclone smashed into its low-lying coastal areas, while heavy rains caused landslides and floods in Malawi and Zimbabwe.
The tropical cyclone has made headlines across southern Africa throughout this month.
Lingering in the Mozambique Channel at tropical cyclone intensity for six days, the storm made landfall in Beira, Mozambique in the middle of the month, then tracked in a westerly direction until its dissipation.
The greatest impact of the storm was experienced on landfall. It caused flooding, excessive wind-speed and storm surge damage in the central region of Mozambique. Adjacent countries of Malawi and Zimbabwe experienced severe rainfall, flooding and damage from the high wind speed. Madagascar also experienced bouts of high rainfall during the storm’s pathway to Beira.
The flooding has left hundreds of thousands of people homeless and displaced across the region while the death toll has continued to rise in the week following landfall.
The effects of the cyclone were felt as far south as South Africa and introduced rolling blackouts due to damaged transmission lines that supply the country with 1100 MW of power from Cahora Bassa in northern Mozambique.
Source: Ghana | Myjoyonline.com | GN