Mozambicans look to God as cyclone deaths rise

Congregants pray outside during a service after their church was destroyed by Cyclone Idai, in Beira, Mozambique, March 24, 2019. REUTERS/Siphiwe Sibeko

BEIRA, Mozambique (Reuters) - Worshippers gathered at battered churches in the Mozambican port of Beira on Sunday, praying for divine protection as the death toll crept up from a cyclone and floods around southern Africa.

"We asked Jesus to protect us, so that this does not happen again," said congregant and survivor Maria Domingas, 60, who saw trees crashing into her house and water filling her bedroom.