Government and aid agency officials sounded the alarm on Tuesday after flights over a vast area of wreckage wrought by Cyclone Idai in Zimbabwe, Malawi and especially Mozambique spurred fears of a massive human toll.
That toll is already in the hundreds across the three southeast African countries. Mozambique's president told state radio Monday that deaths in his country could surpass 1,000.
![A family dig for their son who got buried in the mud when Cyclone Idai struck in Chimanimani. Photo / AP](https://www.nzherald.co.nz/resizer/v2/HFCDJYUZR25GSEAHYPCZC6P5XY.jpg?auth=44a4b10aedf5d6338c28703372e6030262c51baf363cbeee9a7f4498676e3217&width=16&height=11&quality=70&smart=true)
Aerial footage showed miles and miles of submerged areas, both rural and urban. Mozambique's fourth-largest city, Beira, appeared worst hit, with the Red Cross estimating that 90 per cent of the buildings in the city of half a million people were damaged or destroyed. The storm made landfall with sustained winds equivalent to a Category 2 hurricane in a region with weak infrastructure.
![An aerial view of the destruction of homes after Tropical Cyclone Idai, in Beira, Mozambique. Photo / AP](https://www.nzherald.co.nz/resizer/v2/CI7X7RSLEGUKUPSXZSHHFEXWQQ.jpg?auth=b5a040bd7ecc60625e91a3a939d2db098e660ac9e9a053cea5e8ea02ae9c8913&width=16&height=9&quality=70&smart=true)