Cyclone Freddy: death toll in Malawi and Mozambique rises above 270

Malawi and Mozambique were racing to rescue survivors from Tropical Cyclone Freddy on Wednesday as the death toll rose above 270 from one of the most powerful storms recorded in the southern hemisphere.

Freddy tore through southern Africa for the second time in a month over the weekend and was still causing heavy rain on Wednesday, hampering relief efforts.

Malawi’s disaster management department said in a statement that the death toll from the second hit stood at 225, up from 190 on Tuesday, with 707 people injured and 41 missing.

In neighbouring Mozambique at least 21 people had died as of Tuesday, according to the disaster agency.

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The overall death toll since Freddy first made landfall in February is now estimated at more than 270 in Malawi, Mozambique and Madagascar.

Malawi’s army, police, the local Red Cross and other aid agencies were conducting search and rescue operations, with commercial hub Blantyre one of the areas hardest-hit.

Severe flooding and mudslides have swept away homes, broken bridges and destroyed roads. Heavy rain has continued to batter the Mozambican port of Quelimane and surrounding areas.

“Our priority now, as we take stock to what really occurred, is to search and rescue people in most devastated areas. We’ve rescued thousands but thousands more are still unreachable,” said disaster agency spokesperson Paulo Tomas by telephone from Quelimane.

Power supplies in Malawi have been severely disrupted by the storm after the national electricity generation company had to shut down major hydroelectric power stations.

Mozambique, meanwhile, has recorded an increase in the number of cholera cases in the last few weeks, the World Health Organisation said on Wednesday, even as many other African countries reported a decline.

The country has received approval for an additional 1.3 million cholera vaccine doses to help control the spread, the agency said, but the shortage of vaccines still remains to be addressed.

Malawi, which has been battling the deadliest cholera outbreak in its history, was now seeing a sustained decline in cases and deaths, WHO official and epidemiologist Dr Otim Ramadan said.

Zambia, Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia are also responding to cholera outbreaks.

The progress to bring down the transmission of the disease in Malawi in the last four weeks may reverse quickly due to severe devastation caused Storm Freddy, Ramadan warned.

Overall, cholera cases and deaths in Africa have been declining over recent weeks.

So far this year, more than 40,000 cases have been reported in Africa, with Malawi accounting for more than half and Mozambique recording about 15 per cent, the WHO reported.

The agency’s officials warned that there could be a high number of cases by the end of the second quarter, if comprehensive response is not taken to stop further spread of the disease. – Reuters