lightning
Nine people died and five others were injured by lightning on Sunday at the administrative post of Chire, Morrumbala district, Zambezia province, in central Mozambique, the authorities reported on Monday.

"The victims were inside a church and participating in a religious service" on Sunday, Nelson Ludovico, a delegate from the National Institute for Disaster Management (INGC) told Lusa.

The survivors were slightly injured, the source added, without giving more details.

With this incident, the number of deaths rose from 45 to 54 during the rainy season that began in October 2019, according to INGC figures.

Still in the current rainy season, 66 people were injured as a result of various weather phenomena.

INGC reported that there are more than 14,000 families affected in some way by the storms, that is, about 65,000 people, many with flooded homes, especially in the centre of the country, in a scenario that repeats itself in every rainy season, between October and April.

The rainy season has already affected more than 600 classrooms, 47 schools, about 13,000 homes, 10 health units and more than a hundred power poles.

The 2018/2019 rainy season was one of the most severe in memory: 714 people died, including 648 victims of two cyclones (Idai and Kenneth) that hit the country.

Source: Lusa