Tropical storm Filipo, which hit Mozambique on Tuesday evening, has left hundreds of thousands of people in urgent need of humanitarian support, says aid agency Oxfam.
The storm, which made landfall in Inhambane province in Mozambique, comes just a year after Cyclone Freddy ravaged several parts of Mozambique and Malawi, and left millions of people without food, water, or shelter.
There are no reports of casualties yet from Mozambique's authorities, whose National Institute of Meteorology (INAM) issued a red tropical disturbance advisory on March 12 (the highest level on a three-tier scale).
“Consecutive disasters have made it almost impossible for affected communities to recover and rebuild their lives. Whatever little crops people have tried planting in this growing season have been damaged," says Machinda Marongwe, Oxfam in Southern Africa Programme Director.
Climate change has created extreme weather conditions that have decimated crops, leaving over six million people in the region facing acute hunger.
In neighbouring Malawi, where heavy rains are also expected, Oxfam’s partner,
Cyclone Freddy, one of the deadliest storms to hit the African continent in the last two decades, killed over one thousand people, swept away entire villages, forcing thousands of people out of their homes, and destroyed over one million acres of cropland.
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