SW News: At least 190 people are confirmed dead in Malawi after Tropical Storm Freddy tore across southern Africa for the second time in a month. The deaths included dozens of youngsters and were reported in Blantyre, the commercial center of Malawi.
The government has proclaimed a state of disaster in 10 southern districts that have been most severely impacted by the storm. Rescuers are searching for survivors.
Officials at the main referral hospital in the city said they could not cope with the sheer number of bodies that they were receiving. Medical charity ‘Doctors Without Borders’ said that more than 40 children were pronounced dead on arrival at the hospital. Officials appealed to bereaved families to collect the corpses for burial as the hospital’s mortuary was running out of space.
The government’s disaster relief agency said more than 20,000 people have been displaced. The death toll is expected to rise as some areas remain cut off because of relentless rain and fierce winds.
According to the International Meteorological Organization, Freddy is the most powerful tropical storm ever recorded and may also be the longest-lasting one. After severely damaging the island nation of Madagascar, the storm hit Mozambique as a cyclone on Sunday.
It has been challenging to estimate the amount of damage done to Mozambique and the number of fatalities because phone and power supplies were cut off in the impacted areas. There have been reports of about 20 deaths.
According to experts, climate change is causing tropical storms to become wetter, windier, and more intense globally.
The storm has also severely hampered Malawi's electricity infrastructure, resulting in protracted outages. The national electricity provider claimed that because of debris buildup at its hydroelectric facility, it was impossible to get it operating.
The hardest-hit areas are densely populated communities with homes made of mud and brick. Some of these homes have vanished while others have toppled into the floodwaters. The collapse of roads and bridges had hampered rescue operations, while helicopters could not be used because of the heavy rains and strong winds. The government has appealed for help for the tens of thousands of people who have been left without food and shelter.