Cyclone Freddy’s death toll in Malawi rises to 190

Cyclone Freddie has killed more than 100 people in Malawi and Mozambique as it batters South Africa, according to new reports from authorities and NGOs on Monday. It is considered “out of the ordinary” because it is rarely observed by meteorologists.

At least 99 people have died in Malawi, with more expected, the disaster management agency said. An earlier report by the Red Cross and authorities in Malawi said at least 66 people had died in Malawi and four in Mozambique.

The president announced on Monday that he has declared a state of calamity in several southern regions of the country, including Blantyre, the economic capital of Malawi. State President Lazarus Saguera declared a state of calamity in the south “noting with great concern the devastation that Cyclone Prati is currently wreaking in many districts (…),” he said in a statement.

On its way to being classified by meteorologists as the longest cyclone ever recorded, Freddie had already affected Madagascar and Mozambique in late February. 17 people died, thousands were displaced and homes were destroyed.

Again two weeks later

It returned to the region last week following an unprecedented loop route that first fell in Madagascar for the second time in two weeks, killing ten people.

Then came back to attack Mozambique on Saturday night. At least four people died in Zambezia (central) province, which is open to the Mozambique Channel, local officials said. But the balance sheet is likely to go up because communications are cut and information is difficult to get.

The port city of Quelimane (center), about 40 km from where the cyclone made landfall, is still largely isolated from the rest of the world: cut off to roads, water, electricity, UNICEF spokesman Guy Taylor said. Site by phone.

Many are missing

Officials said many people were missing. And the disaster appears to be greater than feared: “Emergency accommodation centers are overcrowded because the number of victims is higher than expected,” Louisa McCue, head of the National Disaster Management Office, told AFP.

The cyclone, with strong winds and heavy rain, then moved towards neighboring Malawi from Sunday to Monday, causing flooding and large landslides. Schools in the country, which is among the world’s poorest, with much of the south closed.

Local police said most of the bodies were found in the Blantyre area. “Relief operations are still ongoing but have been hampered by incessant rains,” a spokesperson said.

was buried

In nearby Silobwe township, about 40 houses were swept away and their occupants buried in the mud, an AFP journalist noted.

Richard Dua, 38, a civil servant, described the sudden rise of water in the middle of the night. Around 05:00 am, he received a phone call: five members of his family living in the city had been taken away.

“We found the body of one boy but the others are still missing,” he said. He has to go to the morgue. Bodies were found below, possibly his relatives.

Canceled flights

National carrier Malawi Airlines has canceled all flights to Blantyre until further notice. According to forecasts, Freddie should move back out to sea later in the week and weaken.

The event, which originated in Australia and reached storm status in early February, has been raging in the Indian Ocean for 35 days. It passed the French islands of Reunion and Mauritius.

A number of storms or cyclones cross the southwest Indian Ocean during the cyclone season, which lasts from November to April every year.

This article was published automatically. Sources: ats / afp