Cyclone Freddy: Over 200 killed in Malawi, Mozambique after rare second landfall

Over the weekend, Cyclone Freddy which is believed to be the longest-lived tropical cyclone ever recorded swept through the southern African countries of Mozambique and Malawi leaving a trail of destruction in its wake. The death toll nearly doubled in the span of a day or so after the record-breaking storm triggered floods, and landslides, and brought heavy rains across various regions of the two nations.

Malawi’s Department of Disaster Management Affairs, in a statement on Tuesday, said that the death toll has risen from 99 to 190 while 584 people were injured and 37 others were reported missing. However, rescue teams working on the ground say they are expecting the death toll to rise in the upcoming days. So far, at least 219 people have been killed in Malawi and Mozambique since Saturday night.

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“The situation is very dire…There are many casualties, either wounded, missing or dead, and the numbers will only increase in the coming days”, Guilherme Botelho, emergency project coordinator for Doctors Without Borders (MSF) told AFP. According to reports, rescue efforts in one of the hardest hit areas in Malawi is its commercial hub Blantyre and the surrounding districts witnessed severe flooding and rain damage roads and bridges have hampered rescue operations.

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Additionally, mudslides triggered by heavy rains have also made it difficult to get relief while many people are said to have perished and their houses were washed away in Blantyre. “It’s a challenging operation in the sense that there’s been incidents of mudslides and so people are getting stuck in those mud accumulations,” said Estere Tsoka, an emergency specialist at the United Nations children’s agency (UNICEF) in Malawi, reported Reuters.

On Monday, Malawi’s President Lazarus Chakwera declared a “state of disaster” in the country’s southern region. Meanwhile, Mozambique’s disaster institute on Tuesday confirmed that more than 20 people have died in the country after Cyclone Freddy pummelled central Mozambique.

ALSO WATCH |Cyclone Freddy batters Mozambique & Malawi; kills more than 100

According to the UN’s meteorological centre on the island of Reunion, the storm will continue to bring extreme rainfall in central Mozambique and southern Malawi till late Wednesday before going back to the sea.

(With inputs from agencies)

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