‘Freddy’ death toll exceeds 200
The death toll from Cyclone Freddy in Malawi and Mozambique passed 200 on Tuesday after the record-breaking storm triggered floods and landslips in its second strike on Africa in less than three weeks.
Rescue workers warned that more victims were likely as they scoured destroyed neighbourhoods for survivors, even as hopes dwindled.
The fierce storm delivered its second punch to southeastern Africa starting at the weekend, its second landfall since late February after brewing off Australia and traversing the Indian Ocean.
Malawi’s government said at least 190 people were killed, with 584 injured and 37 missing, while authorities in neighbouring Mozambique reported 20 deaths and 24 injured.
“The situation is very dire,” said Guilherme Botelho, emergency project coordinator for Doctors Without Borders (MSF) in Malawi. “There are many casualties, either wounded, missing or dead, and the numbers will only increase in the coming days,” he said.
Many people perished in mudslides that washed away homes in the country’s commercial capital, Blantyre.
Across the country, nearly 59,000 people have been affected and more than 19,000 displaced, with many now sheltering in schools and churches.
Freddy was still causing localised rains and winds in southern Malawi on Tuesday, but conditions were expected to ease from yesterday evening, according to the country’s meteorological service.
In Chilobwe, a township outside Blantyre, stunned survivors surveyed flattened houses and other structures as rain continued to fall.
John Witman, in his 80s, dressed in a raincoat and woollen hat with his 10 family members in tow, stood in front of what had been his son-in-law’s home. It was now just rocks and gushing water, the house having been swept away.
“I wish that we could find him, and find closure. We feel helpless because no one is here to help us,” he said.
A few kilometres away, Steve Panganani Matera, wearing a high-visibility green jacket, pointed to a mound of mud. “There were plenty of houses, but they are all gone,” Mr Matera said. “There are plenty of bodies down there in the mud.”
Cyclone Freddy reached landlocked Malawi early on Monday morning after sweeping through Mozambique at the weekend. The storm unofficially broke the World Meteorological Organization’s benchmark as the longest-lasting tropical cyclone on record, set in 1994 for a 31-day storm named John.