(Blantyre) Cyclone Freddy, with exceptional longevity, killed 326 people in Malawi, according to a new report announced Thursday evening by the president, the total number of victims in southern Africa since the arrival of the phenomenon at the end of February now exceeds 400 .
“Since yesterday (Wednesday), the death toll from this disaster has increased from 225 to 326, the number of displaced has more than doubled” exceeding 183,000 in Malawi, said Lazarus Chakwera, traveling in Blantyre (south), epicenter bad weather.
The cyclone, which hit the region twice in a very rare looping path, according to meteorologists, also killed 73 people in Mozambique and 17 in Madagascar.
Formed in early February off the coast of Australia, Freddy made an unprecedented crossing of more than 8000 km from east to west in the Indian Ocean. It first made landfall on February 21 on the east coast of Madagascar, killing 7 people. The phenomenon, which has been raging for more than 35 days, then hit Mozambique, killing 10 people.
The cyclone then turned back in early March and hit Madagascar a second time, killing 10 more people there. It also returned to Mozambique, where it again caused 63 deaths.
But it was in Malawi, which had so far only felt an increase in rainfall levels and where the cyclone finally hit on Monday, that Freddy wreaked the most havoc.
The epicenter of the disaster is in the densely populated region of Blantyre, the economic capital of the country. A state of disaster and two weeks of national mourning have been declared. The police and the army were deployed.
President Chakwera reiterated his call for help on Thursday, saying “the needs are huge”. The head of state had called the day before for international assistance to cope with the immense destruction, describing the disaster as a “national tragedy”.
Weakened, but with gusts still reaching 200 km/h on his return, Freddy carried down torrential rains which led to heavy flooding and landslides. Rescue and recovery operations are continuing.
Tropical storms and cyclones appear several times a year in the southwest Indian Ocean during the hurricane season which lasts from November to April.
