Cyclone Kenneth: UN releases $13 million aid

The United Nations has announced that it will grant Cyclone-hit Mozambique and the Comoros Islands about $13 million in emergency funds.

Cyclone Kenneth has left five dead in Mozambique as of Sunday as rescuers struggled through floods to reach stranded people.

The flooding is worst in the northern port city of Pemba, where 4,500 people have left their homes for refugee shelters. It comes barely a month since Cyclone Idai hit the region, killing more than 900 people in three countries.

The UN emergency funds will help provide food and water and repair damage to infrastructure.

More than 160,000 people have been displaced by the cyclone, 30,000 houses have been destroyed, and 24,000 people are in need of shelter, according to the World Food Program.

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Human Affairs (OCHA) reported some Pemba residents also fear post-cyclone landslides.

The landfall of Kenneth marks the first time in recorded history that two cyclones have hit Mozambique in one season, Al Jazeera reports.

UN Spokesman Stéphane Dujarric said on Sunday that Secretary-General António Guterres is appealing to the international community for additional resources, critically needed to fund the response to the twin tragedies in the immediate, medium- and longer-term.

“The Secretary-General is deeply saddened at reports of loss of lives and destruction in Mozambique and Comoros as a result of tropical cyclone Kenneth, six weeks after Cyclone Idai made landfall in Mozambique, Malawi and Zimbabwe,” the Spokesman said in a statement.

The BBC quoting the UN said, 1.8 million people are in need of aid due to the devastation caused by Idai, while another 168,000 people will need aid due to Kenneth.

The World Bank estimates Mozambique and other countries affected by the tropical storm will need over $2 billion to recover.