Cyclone Freddy continued to wreak havoc in Malawi and Mozambique on Tuesday, with powerful wind and torrential rain. More than 190 people have been killed in what is shaping up to be the longest-lasting tropical storm on record, authorities said Monday.
Freddy, barrelled through southern Africa at the weekend for the second time within a few weeks, making a comeback after a first hit in late February.
Malawi bore the brunt, after mudslides washed away houses and sleeping occupants on Sunday night, many of them in the commercial capital Blantyre.
"We expect the number to rise," Charles Kalemba, a commissioner at the Department of Disaster Management Affairs, told a press conference.
Another 584 people were injured and at least 37 are reported missing.
Residents used their bare hands to dig through the mud hoping to find survivors.
"The people are overwhelmed. The situation is very difficult," said ambulance driver Honest Chirwa, adding rescuers lacked adequate equipment.
Across the country, nearly 59,000 people have been affected, and more than 19,000 displaced.
Fear of cholera
The impact of the cyclone has piled more woes on a country grappling with the deadliest cholera outbreak in its history, which has killed over 1,600 people since last year.
"Severe weather events such as these are likely to exacerbate the spread of waterborne diseases like cholera," the UN children's agency UNICEF warned.
President Lazarus Chakwera, currently in Doha attending a Least Developed Countries meeting, declared a "state of disaster in the Southern region" of the nation.
The government was responding to the crisis while appealing for local and international aid for affected families, his office said.
Malawi has ordered schools in ten southern districts to remain closed until Wednesday, with rains and winds expected to keep battering the nation's south.
Second landfall
National carrier Malawi Airlines said all flights to Blantyre have been cancelled until further notice after an inbound plane ran into the bad weather and was forced back to the capital Lilongwe.
The country's energy utility also warned that electricity generation would be unstable, as it would have to temporarily shut down hydropower stations to prevent muddy water from damaging turbines.
Cyclone Freddy reached landlocked Malawi early on Monday morning after sweeping through Mozambique at the weekend, killing at least 10 and injuring a further 14.
The Mozambique National Institute for Disaster Management (INGC) said the fallout from the storm's second landfall in the country was worse than expected.
Origin in northern Australia
According to the UN's World Meteorological Organization, Freddy, which formed off north-western Australia in the first week of February, was set to become the longest-lasting tropical cyclone on record.
It crossed the entire southern Indian Ocean and blasted Madagascar from 21 February before reaching Mozambique on 24 February.
Following what meteorologists describe as a "rare" loop trajectory, Freddy then headed back towards Madagascar before moving once more towards Mozambique.
In total, Freddy has so far killed at least 136 people -- 99 in Malawi, 20 in Mozambique and 17 in Madagascar.
The last cyclones to cross the entire southern Indian Ocean were Leon-Eline and Hudah in 2000.
(with AFP)
