Red Cross says Mozambique's Beira port hard hit by cyclone

"It seems that 90pc of the area is completely destroyed", said Jamie LeSueur, leader of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) team there.

Cyclone Idai has affected more than 1.5 million people in these three countries, according to the United Nations and government officials.

The local legislator revealed that rescue helicopters from the military were on standby waiting for clouds and winds to subside.

The country's information ministry permanent secretary, Nick Mangwana, said the bad weather had made it hard to carry out rescue operations.

Roads, homes and bridges have been swept away, and power and communication lines destroyed.

It is confirmed that 90% of the city Beira in Mozambique is destroyed by a cyclone. It cut off more than 500,000 residents in the port city of Beira, one the country's largest cities. Hundreds of houses are destroyed in this district alone. "Electricity and communications have been cut". "It only eased up a short while ago", said Al Jazeera's Malcolm Webb, reporting from central Mozambique. "We want to ensure that we reach the ground and render all the necessary assistance", he said Sunday night during a tour of some of the affected areas.

"Cyclones are common on the Indian Ocean at this time of year, but few of them hit the land and this has been particularly destructive", he added.

The Minister of Finance has unveiled a $50 million bailout to combat the effects of Cyclone Idai that left a trail of destruction in Manicaland Province. Mr. Sacco said the death toll was expected to rise as authorities continued to assess the situation.

19 killed, Beira city shut off as tropical cyclone slams Mozambique

"There was a lot of destruction both on our facilities and on people", said Shiri speaking on television from the affected eastern highlands region. The storm's strong winds and heavy rains then moved inland toward Zimbabwe and Malawi.

Many people had been sleeping in the mountains since Friday to escape the flooding after homes were flattened by rock falls and mudslides or washed away by torrential rains.

Beira global airport was closed because of cyclone damage but later reopened.

Mr. Mnangagwa has declared the tragedy a state of disaster and his return from UAE is to enable him to be involved directly with the national response.

Zimbabwe's president (who is now out of the country on an "official State visit" to the United Arab Emirates) declared a State of Disaster in terms of the country's laws.

Mozambique's worst-recorded flooding occurred in 2000, when Cyclone Leon-Eline struck the southern African nation.

Malawi has also been affected by the natural disaster, where 56 lives were claimed by aggressively heavy rains earlier this week.

Many families can not bury the dead due to the floods. Zimbabwe, a country of 15 million people, was already suffering a severe drought that has wilted crops.