Second cyclone hits Mozambique

This item appears on page 18 of the June 2019 issue.

A little more than a month after the devastating Cyclone Idal hit Mozambique and parts of Southern Africa, killing more than 500 people, Cyclone Kenneth made landfall on Mozambique on April 26, killing at least 41 and causing heavy flooding. More than 90% of the houses on the island of Ibo, home to about 7,000 people, were reported destroyed. It is the first time in recorded history that East Africa was hit by two tropical cyclones in one season.

Though the strength of Kenneth dropped to below that of Idal’s before landfall, the storm dropped more than 30 inches of rain on some areas of Mozambique, almost twice as much as Idal had.

After Idal, an outbreak of cholera occurred in Mozambique, primarily in the coastal city of Beira.