Storm Freddy kills more than 100 on return to Mozambique, Malawi
Hello InformationWar commumity! It's been a very difficult beginning of the week for most people in Mozambique and Malawi as they experienced a heavy tropical storm that has caused some devastations in the Southern African countries. Good evening!
Mozambique and Malawi on Monday were counting the cost of Tropical Storm Freddy, which killed more than 100 people, injured scores and left a trail of destruction as it ripped through southern Africa for the second time in a month over the weekend.
According to the World Meteorological Organisation, storm Freddy is one of the strongest and long lasting storm that have ever struck the southern hemisphere and tends to continue for days.
It pummelled central Mozambique on Saturday, ripping roofs off buildings and bringing widespread flooding around the port of Quelimane, before moving inland towards Malawi with torrential rains that caused landslides.
This has affected power supply as well as phone signals were cut off from some parts of the affected areas since it's inception on Saturday. Although the cost of the damages is yet to be reported but it has destroyed many properties and businesses.
The storm has killed 99 people in Malawi, including 85 in the main commercial hub of Blantyre, said the commissioner of the Department of Disaster Management Affairs, Charles Kalemba, at a press briefing.
About 136 people have been killed by the storm since it started last month in Mozambique and Malawi.
The central hospital in Blantyre had received at least 60 bodies by early afternoon, Doctors Without Borders (MSF) country director Marion Pechayre told Reuters by telephone, adding that some 200 injured were being treated in the hospital.
The injuries were from falling trees, landslides and flash floods, she said. "A lot of (houses) are mud houses with tin roofs, so the roofs fall on people's heads."
There is every possibility that more bodies will be discovered by the police and other rescue teams. It's too early to determine the number of casualties already because more dead bodies are being recovered from the sites of the incident.