Cyclone Idai Destroys ‘Ninety Percent’ of a City of Half a Million in Southern Africa

Mozambique Strong!!!

To everyone: Have you begun to use less fuel?? It is the only thing we can do to help.

There was a Madam Secretary television episode on Sunday night about exactly this: record-breaking typhoons, caused by climate change, wreaking massive destruction. One of the main characters of the show delivered an outstanding line to a crowd of evangelicals who were anti-climate change - "It's hard to claim you love the Creator, if you're ignoring global warming." How could anyone who believes in a God think that God would tolerate human destruction of the planet their God entrusted to them for care?

Cyclones and floods in Mozambique and southern Africa, floods and cyclones in midwestern America, forest fires in our far west. These are the fallout from the melting of polar icecaps and climate change. We will witness far more terrible events of climate warming on our planet in the coming years. Meanwhile people are killed, flora and fauna uprooted all over the world. And some people (in America, in our government) call climate change "a hoax". One can comment and feel deep sadness, but what can we small earthlings do to change Earth's wobbling trajectory in the universe? Not much.

Please note that humans are not the only victims in this disaster, and also note that global warming will cause many more storms like this. It's time to ignore the climate change deniers and focus on the solutions, now. We have very little time left before we reach the tipping point to all-out disaster. Unless we as a species enact major change to our economies and ways of life, we will destroy the planet and most living beings on it. We have until 2030. Let's move.

I have to echo the sentiments of those asking where donations can be made to help these poor people. I recently visited Kenya. Nairobi is a bustling metropolis compared to what the woman interviewed described about her existence. That people were already struggling for basic food, water, and clothing, and now what little they have has been wiped out by the cyclone, makes me feel such anguish for them.

What makes me weep more is thinking, guess where the next huge flare-up of violence in Africa is going to be?

It's only going to get worse. I feel such a bizarre disconnect whenever I see a commercial from some tech company showing rose-colored visions of the "future." Virtual reality! AI! Folding mobile devices! What the heck are they talking about? Look at this story. This is the future.

The majority if commenters took this as an opportunity to pontificate on global warming. How NYT... I will try to find a reliable non-profit that can use my five bucks to help these people rebuild. Or maybe the NYT could recommend one? I will find another opportunity to pontificate.

Global overpopulation is causing this weather crisis. The first line of the Bible/Koran/Talmud/book of Mormon etc that says essentially "Go forth and multiply" is directly causing the last part of these books (at least the Bible) which is ARMAGEDDON. Too many people and everyone has forgotten the Zero Population Growth movement of the 20th Century. Why have you all forgotten this, do you all care about overpopulation, and do you think this weather is related? And of course from biological theory human overpopulation will also result in more plagues, famine and war as it does with ANY species in overpopulation. How about dealing with the facts, folks!

We all know what is causing these extreme weather events — climate change, accelerated by the massive release of carbon into the atmosphere. We have not begun to experience the effects of the melting permafrost, an event that will release huge amounts of methane into the atmosphere, further increasing temperatures, while also contaminating the air we breathe (or will no longer be able to breathe, if we are really unlucky). We all know why less than nothing is being done by the US to slow or prevent these catastrophes: the oil and gas industry and the Republican Party. To them: You know, you guys, the world has your number. We know you’re manipulating dumb and prejudiced people (whistling your dog whistles) to win the votes you need to protect industry profits. You aren’t fooling anyone who, as my baby sister used to say, “has half a brain.” To us: Vote. Just vote. Bring a friend to the polls. The corporate interests, their flunkies, and the ignorant, prejudiced and obstinate voters who have kept them in office, are in the minority. We have the numbers and can beat them. This tragedy took thousands of lives. It didn’t have to happen. Climate change and health care must be co-equal items 1 and 2 on a Democratic presidential candidate’s agenda. Maybe even 3, 4 and 5.

Its the poor that primarily suffer the cost of this sort of environmental catastrophe yet the Republicans keep on saying what global warming? While it is good to contribute to charities we need to step up and fix our emissions which are contributing to this sort of event. We are culpable in this disaster.

Please tell us how we can help. What relief agencies are collecting funds from individuals?

Seems like we’re hearing the phrase “one of the worst disasters ever” more and more as more powerful storms of all types rake the Earth. Either journalists are becoming more sensationalistic than the ones in the past, or “something’s happening here and what it is, is becoming quite clear” to paraphrase an old song... the Earth IS experiencing more and stronger storms. Nebraska is flooded, Alabama is torn up (again) by late winter powerful tornadoes and now this cyclone.

One foot of sea level rise moves the shoreline 300 feet inland, on average. It is much worse in places like South Florida and Bangladesh. One foot of sea level rise on the East Coast of the US caused Hurricane Sandy's storm surge to flood an extra 25 square miles. Tropical cyclones are drawing more power from a warmer ocean and dumping more rain from a warmer atmosphere which can hold more water. And sea level rise is accelerating. The problem with sea level rise and storm surge is that the closer sea level approaches the top of a coastal defense the greater the risk of a storm surge breaching the defense, as happened in New Orleans with Hurricane Katrina. So a lot of these large coastal cities won't go slowly with sea level rise, but swiftly in catastrophic storms like Idai.

Message to trump: This is what a real emergency looks like, Send your funding request to congress not for a wall but to help these people.

Jim Inhofe: There's no snow there, but this death and destruction is caused by exaggerated climate events due to vast amounts of carbon introduced into the atmosphere that plants are unable to absorb and then stabilize as has been for millions of years thanks to you. You are responsible. And the kids know it. You and your deniers who do nothing are the problem as well as the cause.

If the US Republicans think that climate change is not manmade, then God must be really mad at us, including many many in the US who were hit by BIG hurricanes last season. Maybe it is because we are taking less care of our poor or embracing more violence by assault weapons, both against His teachings in the New Testament. So...either it is manmade or you are doing wrong by your religion. You choose.

There was a time the United States would lead the world to lend assistance and hope. There was a time our president was more focused on the needs of others than on a poor portrayal on Saturday Night Live. Sadly, the world cannot rely on the current administration for leadership in a time of real world crisis.

I feel bad when I read these increasingly frequent disaster stories but I refuse to be persuaded that simply because of higher resulting death counts than in the past the world is somehow closer to its end. Considering a greater earth's population rapidly rising only figures all related numbers go up accordingly. Maybe the storms are still just storms, it's everything around them that is out of whack. The world made it this far due to balance, no doubt it shouldn't continue forever so long as we allow it to find what it knows best. The more CO2 we pump I doubt the earth hardly cares for it can handle it its own way. We may not like the way it does. Us thinking we're trying to save the "planet" is so egotistical. It's our own hides.

Zero details on the wind speed etc. It matters.

Remember, this is what global warming looks like. It is also the reason why the carbon industry want to deny the truth. People's lives are affected and they do not want to take responsibility.

My heart goes out to the people. Multiple articles over the past years have described how Beira has been working to respond to climate change: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-mozambique-climatechange/threatened-by-climate-change-mozambiques-beira-bets-on-urban-renewal-idUSKCN0ZO13Y http://floodlist.com/africa/beira-mozambique-urban-renewal-floods-rising-sea-levels This disaster has completely destroyed much of the work being done. They were planting mangrove trees and improving flood barriers. If we aren't willing to lower CO2, then we need to discuss if we're going to move entire coastal cities.

Please, New York Times, keep following this story and let us know what we can (other than continue to try to enact better environmental policy, better environmental habits, and a more humanitarian outlook generally).

My heart goes out to the victims, and my thoughts are with them. Why, oh why, does the leader of the most powerful country in the world and the wealthiest, the USA, continue to deny the effects of climate change? Why does greed among the greediest and ignorance among their followers relentlessly insist on downright destruction of this planet's people, livelihoods, and, for that matter, all living organisms? I am so weary, so angry, of reading time and time again about fires, vicious hurricanes, flooding, etc. I am living through unprecedented fires in my own state, wondering if the next year will begin another string of droughts after droughts. The best way to help those poor and undeveloped countries is to start leading with our own. Changes must be made, starting in Washington, DC, and soon.

Has Trump called, offering condolences and promises of any assistance that the United States has to offer?

Why are we just hearing about this now?

So devastating. My heart goes out to Mozambique and all those affected by this disaster...

A map would be very useful!

What is this US government doing to lend immediate assistance to these countries? And, what is China doing to lend assistance? China, which has become a strong and persistent force in African countries must surely be offering assistance, which would not be forgotten by those countries or those peoples.

Some readers bemoan the fact that Americans couldn’t find these places on a map. Perhaps newspapers could publish more maps within the stories so we don’t have to hunt for it ourselves? Detail would be especially helpful, for example, the path of the storm.

Could you imagine the intense global reaction if an American city of 500,000 people i.e Boston was 90% destroyed? This story however won't even last to the next news cycle. For all our whining about being enlightened, we're really all still animals.

This is a terrible loss of life and destruction of infrastructure so vital to human wellbeing. Is there any possibility that The Times will consider creating an interactive map linking these unusually destructive events with loss of life and property? A timeline would help us all see the accelerating pace of destruction associated with climate warming.

I wish NYT posted a map of the cyclone path. It took a very unusual path - appeared to have traversed through the channel between mainland and the island of Madagascar. We just saw an unusual cyclone in Nebraska too. This is the new world that 98.5% of climatologists predicted - unusual places with unusual strength.

The ugly and embarrassing truth is that we in this country are not really interested in countries like Mozambique or Zimbabwe. Our president has a word for those places. I would bet that the majority of Americans couldn't find Mozambique on a map. Disasters that would be major news in countries and people that "matter" would get front page media coverage for days. But the media's lack of interest in other countries' woes (even the so-called liberal and enlightened media) quietly but accurately reflects the views of the president.

There should always be a sidebar in natural disaster stories of aid organizations on the ground that we can contribute to. The story shows that the reporter talked to several, but only the Red Cross is named. I imagine it wouldn't be so hard to include the names and websites of other aid organizations. Of course, due diligence would be up to us. My thoughts are with everyone who lost friends, family, homes, and businesses.

Why is our government not sending condolences and offer of aid to thee devastated areas.?These communities scrape by at best and now they have lost so much.If we had a decent government with decent officials they would already have offered help.! Shame on us- climate disaster will come to all of us sooner rather than later.

Massive destruction of an already fragile infrastructure, in part of the world already ravaged by decades of political and internecine warfare. This will likely force many people to leave these areas, increasing social and political instability.

This is so heartbreaking. Life is like a vapor. Here this minute and gone the next. My condolences to those who lost their loved ones and are mourning.