English: Tropical Cyclone Idai made landfall during the night of 14 to 15 March, 2019, near Beira City, Mozambique. The storm raked coastal cities and towns in Central Mozambique with winds of 175 kilometers (110 miles) per hour—strong enough to topple trees and tear the roofs from homes. But as is usually the case with tropical cyclones, water proved to be the most destructive. Idai made landfall around the time of high tide, so the storm pushed a tremendous wall of water ashore—a surge of up to 6 meters (20 feet) in some areas. The water swamped a large tract of low-lying land along the Pungwe River. Meanwhile, as the large, slow-moving storm moved inland, it dumped extremely heavy rain on much of Mozambique’s Manica and Sofala provinces.

The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Aqua satellite acquired a false-color image of the flooding on March 25. Ten days after the storm battered the region, the Pungwe River still resembles an inland sea rather than river. To appreciate the truly catastrophic nature of the flooding, a stunning roll-over comparison of the Pungwe River before and after the flooding can be seen HERE

The city of Beira, which can be seen as gray pixels on the north bank of the Pungwe River at its outlet on the Mozambique Channel, was particularly hard-hit by Tropical Cyclone Idai. According to early news reports, about 400,000 people—three-quarters of the city’s population—have lost their homes.

As of March 26, Reliefweb, a disaster reporting service of the United Nation’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) announced that “flooding caused by the Tropical Cyclone Idai weather system since early March has affected nearly 3 million people and caused at least 678 deaths in Malawi, Mozambique, and Zimbabwe.” The system affected Malawi early, as it passed over that region twice as a tropical depression and weak storm as it tracked towards Mozambique. After brutalizing Mozambique, Idai continued through Zimbabwe before dissipating over land.

In Mozambique, about 1.85 million people are estimated to have been affected, with at least 447 deaths. About 129,000 displaced persons have been accommodated in 143 sites. Reliefweb states that and education facilities have suffered significant damage, with more than 3,100 classrooms and 45 health centers impacted. About 72,260 houses have been totally destroyed, partially destroyed or flooded. In addition, more than 474,150 hectares of crops have been damaged, which will impact food security in the months ahead, particularly as the losses coincide with the annual harvest period. Response efforts in Malawi, Mozambique and Zimbabwe are led by the governments of each country. Although flood waters are beginning to recede, significant challenges remain, especially since the heavy rains have damaged roads and many bridges have been washed away.