Storm Freddy: Malawi declares state of emergency, death toll rises

News » Incidents

At least 190 people have died in Malawi after Tropical Storm Freddy hit the south for the second time in a month Africa.

Terrifying torrents of water mixed with earth and debris poured into the city, sweeping away houses.

The commercial center of Malawi, Blantyre, has the most deaths — 158, including 36 from a landslide.

The state disaster relief agency said the death toll rose from 99 on Monday to 190, with about 584 people injured and 37 missing.

More than 20,000, it said. people have been displaced.

The government has declared a state of emergency in the 10 areas hardest hit by the storm.

Rescuers are trying to find survivors buried under a layer of mud by digging through the debris with shovels.

"Our rivers burst their banks, people are carried away by mudflows, water flows destroy buildings», — Police spokesman Peter Kalaya told the BBC.

The death toll is expected to rise as some areas remain cut off due to incessant rain and high winds.

Officials The central hospital in Blantyre said they could not cope with the huge number of victims and the bodies of the dead that they received.

They urged the families of the victims to collect the bodies for burial as there is not enough space in the hospital mortuary.

The storm also damaged Malawi's electricity supply, and power was cut in most areas.

National Electricity Company said she could not start her hydroelectric plant because it was littered with rubbish.

Densely populated poor communities living in brick and adobe houses were hardest hit.

Some of these houses collapsed due to flood waters, and others were completely washed away.

The UN and other agencies have warned that the conditions in which the people found themselves as a result of the storm could exacerbate the cholera outbreak — one of Malawi's worst public health crises.

The government has asked for international assistance for tens of thousands of people who have been left without food and shelter.

According to the World Meteorological Organization, Freddie is the strongest tropical cyclone on record and possibly the longest.

On Sunday, the storm hit Mozambique — second time in less than a month — after passing through the Indian Ocean island nation of Madagascar, also causing severe damage.

Experts say climate change is making tropical storms around the world more powerful and destructive.

Freddie has broken records for the strength he has accumulated over the 8,000 km he traveled across the Indian Ocean from northwestern Australia.

Follow us on Telegram