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GENEVA / CYCLONE KENNETH UPDATE
STORY: GENEVA / CYCLONE KENNETH UPDATE
TRT: 1:45
SOURCE: UNTV CH
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 26 APRIL 2019 GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
1. Exterior shot, Palais des Nations.
2. Wide shot, Room III, Palais des Nations.
3. Close up, journalists typing.
4. SOUNDBITE (English) Clare Nullis, spokesperson, WMO:
“Tropical Cyclone Kenneth made landfall in northern Mozambique near the border with Tanzania in an area where no storm since the satellite-era has ever been observed, so people in that area have never experienced a tropical cyclone, and they’ve certainly never experienced a tropical cyclone of that intensity.”
5. Close up, camera operator.
6. SOUNDBITE (English) Jens Laerke, spokesperson, OCHA:
“With maximum sustained wind reportedly reaching speeds of 225 kilometres per hour, and gusts that reached 270 kilometres per hour, the storm ripped off roofs of some homes and it continues to generate heavy rainfall, resulting in flooding as it moves across Mozambique.”
7. Close up, journalists
8. SOUNDBITE (English) Clare Nullis, spokesperson, WMO:
“Mozambican authorities evacuated thousands of people which we hope limited the loss of life. And Tanzania, which also has never seen tropical cyclones, issued a red alert to warn people of the risks, and those red alerts continue today, warning of floods and landslides.”
9. Med shot, journalists.
10. SOUNDBITE (English) Jens Laerke, spokesperson, OCHA:
“Cyclone Kenneth may require a major new humanitarian operation at the same time that the ongoing Cyclone Idai response targeting three million people in three countries remains critically underfunded.”
11. Med shot, journalists.
12. Wide shot, journalists, panel.
13. Close up, laptop, wires.
Tropical Cyclone Kenneth swept into northern Mozambique on Thursday evening bringing heavy rain and winds registered in excess of 225 kilometres per hour after lashing the Comoros islands, where it claimed at least three lives, UN agencies said on Friday.
“Tropical Cyclone Kenneth made landfall in northern Mozambique near the border with Tanzania in an area where no storm since the satellite-era has ever been observed,” said Clare Nullis, spokesperson for the World Meteorological Organization (WMO).
“So, people in that area have never experienced a tropical cyclone, and they’ve certainly never experienced a tropical cyclone of that intensity.”
Unlike Cyclone Idai - which claimed hundreds of lives and flooded vast swathes of southern Mozambique six weeks ago - the latest storm hit a mainly rural region north of the city of Pemba, between the islands of Tambuzi and Matemo, and near the town of Mucojo.
Nonetheless, WMO has warned of a potentially life-threatening storm surge of between three to five metres, while the World Food Programme (WFP) has also reported forecasts of up to 600 millimetres of rain in the next 10 days – twice as much as the port city of Beira received after Idai hit.
Echoing the gravity of the situation, Jens Laerke from the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said that the storm had seen “maximum sustained wind reportedly reaching speeds of 225 kilometres per hour (140 miles per hour), and gusts that reached 270 kilometres per hour (168 miles per hour)”.
The storm “ripped off roofs” of homes “and it continues to generate heavy rainfall, resulting in flooding as it moves across Mozambique,” Laerke told journalists in Geneva, reading a statement from UN Emergency Relief Coordinator Mark Lowcock.
“Cyclone Kenneth may require a major new humanitarian operation at the same time that the ongoing Cyclone Idai response targeting three million people in three countries remains critically underfunded,” Laerke added.
Although Cyclone Kenneth has now been downgraded to a tropical depression by WMO, some 700,000 people are believed to remain at risk, according to Mozambique’s national disaster management agency, INGC.
“Mozambican authorities evacuated thousands of people which we hope limited the loss of life,” said Nullis. “And Tanzania, which also has never seen tropical cyclones, issued a red alert to warn people of the risks, and those red alerts continue today, warning of floods and landslides.”
In the province of Cabo Delgado, where Kenneth made landfall, the UN is working with the Government and other humanitarian organizations on an immediate response plan for the north of the country.
According to WFP, public buildings such as schools have been made available where flood victims can shelter from the districts of Pemba, Mecufi, Chiure, Metuge, Mocimboa da Praia, Palma, Macomia, Quissanga, Ibo and Muidumbe.
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