Mozambican officials said the cyclone had by early Saturday claimed 21 lives and injured 79 others in the central region of the country.
The cyclone, with wind speeds as high as 224 kilometres per hour that are accompanied by heavy rain, uprooted trees and destroyed infrastructure such as power lines, houses, roads and bridges as it swept through the port city of Beira heading inland to the provinces of Zambezia and Tete
The cyclone has also claimed scores of lives in neighbouring Malawi.
Zimbabwe’s Ministry of Information said on Saturday that at least 31 people have been killed by deadly floods triggered by the cyclone in the eastern part of the country.
The ministry said in a statement that several other people are missing after being swept away by floods caused by Cyclone Idai in areas along Zimbabwe’s border with Mozambique such as Chimanimani and Chipinge.
It warned people in the affected areas against crossing flooded rivers.
“We urge patience as rescue is on its way. Let us not have avoidable loss of human life. We have lost 31 Zimbabweans to #CycloneIdai,” the ministry said.
The ministry said the army and emergency services have been deployed in the affected, with consignments of supplies having been ferried to the worst hit parts of Chimanimani.
These include buckets, tarpaulins, boxes of laundry soap, jerry cans, boxes of bath soap, nets and raincoats to be used by volunteers.