Tropical Cyclone Dineo kills seven, wrecks 20,000 houses in Mozambique

Feb. 17 (UPI) -- Tropical Cyclone Dineo, a Category 4 storm, killed seven people and displaced 130,000 more in Mozambique, the country's disaster agency reported Friday.

"Over 20,000 homes" were destroyed by "winds and very strong rain," the Mozambique National Institute of Disaster Management said in a statement. It counted 105 schools, 49 hospitals and 52 other public buildings as destroyed in the southern part of the impoverished nation on Africa's eastern coast.

Mozambique frequently endures tropical storms. A flood in 2000, prompted by a storm, killed at least 800 people; another, in 2015, claimed at least 100 lives.

The cyclone was downgraded Thursday as it reached South Africa, but the South Africa Weather Service warned that heavy rainfall and flooding are expected. The storm is expected to continue through Saturday; nearly 8 inches of rain and sustained winds of 60 mph are expected in South Africa's Mpumalanga, KwaZulu-Natal and Limpopo regions, the country's Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs Ministry said.

South Africa's Kruger National Park, a noted safari destination, closed some of its roads and camps in anticipation of the storm.