Blantyre, Maputo, March 14 (BNA): Mozambique and Malawi on Monday recounted the cost of Tropical Storm Freddy, which killed more than 100 people, injured dozens and left great destruction as it ravaged South Africa for the second time. a month over the weekend.
Freddy is one of the strongest storms ever recorded in the Southern Hemisphere and could be a longest-running tropical cyclone, according to the World Meteorological Organization, Reuters reports.
It struck central Mozambique on Saturday, destroying rooftops and bringing widespread flooding around the port of Quelimani, before moving inland towards Malawi with heavy rains that triggered landslides.
It is not yet clear the full extent of the damage and loss of life in Mozambique in particular, as power and telephone signals were down in some parts of the affected area.
Disaster Management Commissioner Charles Kalimba told a news conference that the storm had killed 99 people in Malawi, including 85 in Blantyre, the main commercial hub.
The total number killed by Storm Freddy in Mozambique, Malawi and Madagascar since it made landfall last month is about 136.
At least 60 dead bodies had been received by the central hospital in Blantyre by early afternoon, Marion Beshire, director of Doctors Without Borders, told Reuters by phone, adding that about 200 wounded people were being treated at the hospital.
She added that the injuries were caused by falling trees, landslides and torrents. “A lot of (the houses) are mud houses with tin roofs, so their roofs fall on people’s heads.”
Police spokesman Peter Kalaya told Reuters that rescue teams were searching for people in Chiluboy and Ndiyirandi, two of the hardest hit towns in Blantyre, the country’s second-largest city, where it was still raining on Monday and many residents had lost power.
“It is feared that some of the missing people are buried under the rubble,” Klaya said.
critical situation
Malawi’s national electricity company EGENCO said power generation capacity is unstable and that it experienced complete system shutdowns twice on Monday. It added that it had shut down all major hydropower stations to protect them from damage.
At least 10 people have died in Mozambique’s Zambezia province, provincial delegate Nelson Ludovico told Public Radio Mozambique, adding that the numbers are still provisional.
“The situation is critical in Zambezia province,” Health Minister Armindo Tiago told public radio. “We cannot give an exact estimate of the extent of the damage because there are no communications with all the regions.”
Guy Taylor, head of advocacy, communications and partnerships for the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) in Mozambique, told Reuters from Quelimane that humanitarian agencies there do not have the capacity to deal with a disaster of this scale.
“We saw a lot of destroyed buildings and clinics. The winds tore off the roofs of people’s homes. Even before the cyclone hit, we saw local floods,” he said.
He said the winds died down on Monday, but there were still many floods that destroyed crops and created risks of waterborne diseases.
Mozambique has seen more rain than a year in the past four weeks.
Malawi is battling the deadliest cholera outbreak in its history, and UN agencies have warned the situation could now get worse.
Climate change from fossil fuels is making tropical storms stronger, scientists say. The oceans absorb heat from greenhouse gas emissions and as warm sea water evaporates, heat energy is transferred to the atmosphere.