The Zimbabwe Military believes that the final death toll from Tropical Cyclone Idai could exceed 500 after hundreds of bodies were seen floating in Mozambique.
Major General Joe Muzvidziwa, the 3 Infantry Brigade commander leading rescue efforts in Manicaland said that most of the damage occurred in the Rusitu Valley. He said:
We don’t have sufficient data on the numbers of people who died and those that are missing.
In fact, when the data collation is done, we are expecting the number of missing people not to be less than 500.
The good thing is that the water levels have receded and if we manage to clear the roads we could have a clear picture by end of day Wednesday.
Tropical Cyclone hit the Mozambican coastal city of Beira on Thursday and moved inland throughout the weekend, leaving heavy rains in its trail.
It crossed into Zimbabwe the following day and caused massive destruction in Manicaland, Masvingo and Mashonaland East.
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More: ZimLive.com