Zimbabwe’s death toll from Cyclone Idai jumped to 139 on Thursday after two more bodies were discovered in the country’s worst-hit region of Chimanimani district.
The bodies of the deceased were brought by helicopter onto dry land where they were taken away by emergency services.
The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP), which is co-ordinating food drops, said 200,000 Zimbabweans would need urgent food aid for three months.
Cyclone Idai lashed Mozambique’s Beira with winds of up to 170 km per hour (105 miles per hour) a week ago, then moved inland to Zimbabwe and Malawi, flattening buildings and putting the lives of millions at risk.
The cyclone’s torrential rains caused the Buzi River and the Pungue River, whose mouths are in the Beira area, to flood their banks. The scale of the flooding is huge – the U.N. satellite agency says floodwaters covered 2,165 square km on March 20.
