Beira (Mozambique) (AFP) - A cyclone which struck southern Africa has affected almost three million people, of whom nearly 500,000 have been driven from their homes, the United Nations said on Tuesday.

Risks of food and water shortages and infectious disease loom over the region.

BUZI/GUARA GUARA, Mozambique (Reuters) - For two days before Cyclone Idai hit, a government official drove down the bumpy roads of Buzi in central Mozambique, warning people through a megaphone that a big storm was coming.

BEIRA, Mozambique (Reuters) - Mozambique will start a cholera vaccination campaign next week in areas ravaged by Cyclone Idai, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said on Thursday, after five confirmed cases were detected.

A cyclone that tore across southern Africa this month may have destroyed more than $1 billion of infrastructure, the United Nations said, as the death toll from the storm climbed to more than 700.

Two successive cyclones hit coastal regions of Australia this weekend bringing torrential rains and winds of up to 125 kilometres per hour.