Tropical Cyclone Eloise displaced nearly 7,000 in Mozambique

Severe winds and heavy rains wrecked thousands of buildings, ruined crops, and displaced almost 7,000 people in Mozambique over the weekend, officials said in their first detailed report on the disaster, Report states, citing TASS.

Tropical cyclone Eloise hit Mozambique's Sofala coastal province on Saturday morning before weakening and heading inland to dump rain on Zimbabwe, Eswatini - formerly known as Swaziland - and South Africa.

Authorities initially said Eloise had only caused minor damage in Mozambique's port city of Beira but that it was too early to gauge the full extent of the damage across the rest of the region.

Mozambique's National Institute for Disaster Risk Management and Reduction (INGD) said investigations had shown that Eloise had injured 12 people and displaced 6,859. The region's Buzi district had been particularly hard hit with wind speeds of up to 150 kph.

"Families are in urgent need of essential supplies like food, water, blankets, and shelter," Marcia Penicela, project manager at ActionAid Mozambique, said, speaking from Beira.