'The water kept rising': How Mozambicans were caught in path of deadly cyclone

An early warning system implemented by the government did not reach everyone and in the poorest, most remote areas there are few solid structures where people can shelter

By Stephen Eisenhammer and Emma Rumney

BUZI/GUARA GUARA, Mozambique - For two days before Cyclone Idai hit, a government official drove down the bumpy roads of Buzi in central Mozambique, warning people through a megaphone that a big storm was coming.

He told them to find a place to shelter, but many people in the once bustling estuary town did not know where to go.

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An early warning system implemented by the government did not reach everyone and in the poorest, most remote areas there are few solid structures where people can shelter, aid workers and residents said.

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At least 179 people were killed in Zimbabwe, where the Department of Civil Protection had sent text messages and issued radio and television warnings advising people to move away from areas in the cyclone's path two days before it hit.

But in Zimbabwe's worst affected district, Chimanimani, many said they had no place to go because the government had not provided shelter, and there was no mandatory evacuation order.

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