- Over 270 dead in Malawi, Mozambique and Madagascar
- Over 16,000 affected in Malawi – the UN
- Malawi’s President is calling on the international community for help
BLANTYRE/MAPUTO, March 15 (Portal) – Malawian families gathered on Wednesday to commemorate and bury victims of Tropical Cyclone Freddy, with President Lazarus Chakwera asking for support from the international community as tolls continued to rise.
Freddy sped through southern Africa over the weekend for the second time in a month, still causing heavy rain on Wednesday, hampering relief efforts.
“I’m so devastated personally,” Chakwera told reporters in Naotcha, in the parish of Chilobwe, on the outskirts of Blantyre. “Sometimes as you walk past these many caskets you can’t help but shed tears because an entire family has been completely wiped out and so many others touched.”
Malawi’s disaster management agency said in a statement the death toll from the storm’s second hit rose to 225 from 190, with 707 people injured and 41 missing.
“We use hope as our currency to encourage those who have survived that we will not abandon them because we trust you will come through as our international neighbors so that Malawians can continue that hope,” he said President, adding that the survivors needed clothing, food and shelter.
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Gift Daniel, a survivor from Tauchila village in Chiradzulu district, told Portal he managed to save his wife and three children but lost in-laws and other family members.
“We didn’t know what was happening and called relatives. We tried to flee but we got hit by the water,” Daniel said, adding that he now has nowhere to stay.
[1/7] Locals in Chiradzulu district walk through a flooded road after mudslides and rock falls in the area caused by the aftermath of Cyclone Freddy in Blantyre, Malawi March 15, 2023. Portal/Esa Alexander
Tamara Black, 26, said she almost lost her baby before someone managed to save it.
“What I saw was scary, something I’ve never seen in my life. When I came out of the house, it was like the sky was moving,” she said in Chichewa, her native language.
The UN refugee agency said in a statement it was deeply concerned by the devastation and impact of Tropical Cyclone Freddy, which affected over 16,000 people in 10 districts in Malawi’s southern region.
According to the disaster agency, at least 21 people died in neighboring Mozambique by Tuesday.
The total death toll since Freddy’s first landing in February is now estimated at more than 270 in Malawi, Mozambique and Madagascar.
Malawi’s army, police, local Red Cross and other aid organizations conducted search and rescue operations, with the commercial hub of Blantyre being one of the hardest-hit areas.
Severe flooding and mudslides have swept away homes, destroyed bridges and destroyed roads. Heavy rain has continued to batter the Mozambique port of Quelimane and surrounding areas.
“Our priority now, as we take stock of what really happened, is to search and rescue people in the most devastated areas. We have saved thousands, but thousands more are still out of reach,” Civil Protection Agency spokesman Paulo Tomas said by phone from Quelimane.
Reporting by Frank Phiri in Blantyre, Manuel Mucari in Maputo, Tom Gibb and James Chanika in Chiradzulu; Additional reporting by Nellie Peyton in Johannesburg; Writings by Bhargav Acharya and Anait Miridzhanian; Edited by Alexander Winning, Nick Macfie and Alex Richardson
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