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Mozambique and Malawi on Monday counted the cost of Tropical Storm Freddy, which killed more than 60 people, injured scores and left a trail of destruction as it tore through southern Africa for the second time in a month at the weekend.
Freddy is one of the strongest storms on record in the southern hemisphere and could become the longest-lasting tropical cyclone, according to the World Meteorological Organization.
It hit central Mozambique on Saturday, tearing roofs off buildings and causing flooding around the port of Quelimane, before moving into Malawi with heavy rains that triggered landslides.
The damage and loss of life in Mozambique is particularly unclear, as electricity supplies and telephone signals have been cut off in some affected areas.
In Malawi’s main commercial center of Blantyre, the central hospital had received at least 60 bodies by evening, Doctors Without Borders (MSF) country director Marion Pechayre told Reuters by phone, adding that around 200 wounded were being treated in hospital.
Many in Malawi are still missing
The damage was caused by falling trees, landslides and flash floods, he said.
“Many [houses] it’s a mud house with a tin roof, so the roof falls on people’s heads.”
Victims are still arriving from the affected areas, said Chipiliro Khamula, a spokesman for the disaster management department.
Police spokesman Peter Kalaya told Reuters that rescue teams were searching for people in Chilobwe and Ndirande, the two hardest-hit towns in Blantyre, where it was still raining on Monday and many residents were powerless.
“Some of the missing people are afraid of being buried in the rubble,” Kalaya said.
Children and families #Mozambique continue to pay the high price of #ClimateChange.#CycloneFreddy pic.twitter.com/pdEyBKd1vo
At least six people have died in Mozambique’s Quelimane, which was hit by a storm, authorities told public broadcasters on Monday.
More people are injured, Health Minister Armindo Tiago said on Radio Mozambique.
“The situation is critical in the province of Zambezia. We cannot go forward with an accurate picture of the scale of the damage because there is no communication with the whole region,” he said from the hospital in Quelimane.
Flood from #CycloneFreddy at #Quelimane & surrounding area cutting children & family dead from basic services & raise the risk of cholera & other water diseases. In rural areas, floods threaten crops & livelihoods, with the greatest impact on the most vulnerable. pic.twitter.com/leQvfwjdDr
The death toll from Freddy in Mozambique, Malawi and Madagascar since it first made landfall last month is now close to 100.
Aid agencies are struggling
Guy Taylor, chief of advocacy, communications and partnerships for the UN children’s agency UNICEF in Mozambique, told Reuters from Quelimane that existing humanitarian agencies do not have the capacity to handle a disaster of this scale.
“We saw many buildings and clinics destroyed. People’s houses had their roofs blown off by the wind. Even before the typhoon we saw local flooding,” he said.
No child should walk through the dirt & amp; dangerous water.
However, in Tulear, it rained heavily from #CycloneFreddy has caused severe flooding that can spread disease & destroying the water supply.
Climate change is increasing the occurrence of extreme weather.
We have to take it #ClimateAction pic.twitter.com/HQIJdlz2wE
Winds had eased on Monday, but there was still plenty of flooding that damaged crops and caused water-borne diseases, he said.
Mozambique has had more than a year’s worth of rain over the past four weeks.
Malawi is battling the deadliest cholera outbreak in its history, and UN agencies have warned that the situation could get worse.
Scientists say climate change is making tropical storms stronger, because the ocean absorbs heat from greenhouse gas emissions and when warm ocean water evaporates, the heat energy is transferred to the atmosphere.
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