Cyclone Freddy, "out of the ordinary" because it made a loop rarely observed by meteorologists, killed more than 100 people in Malawi and Mozambique as it returned to hit southern Africa, authorities said on Monday.
At least 99 people have died and dozens more injured in Malawi after an overnight mudslide swept away homes and buried residents. The poor country's disaster management agency said it expected an even heavier toll.
At least 10 people have died and 14 others injured in neighboring Mozambique, according to local authorities.
The region of Malawi's economic capital, Blantyre, where residents searched for survivors in the mud with their bare hands or with shovels, alone recorded 85 deaths.
Government relief workers were slow to arrive, said a resident of Chilobwe township, covered in mud, who is helping with the rescue efforts. "People are overwhelmed. The situation is very difficult," said another, Honest Chirwa, adding that rescuers lack adequate equipment.
Malawi has declared a state of disaster in several southern parts of the country, including Blantyre. More than 11,000 people have been displaced by the storm in the country, according to the United Nations.
Richard Duwa, 38, a civil servant, told AFP the water suddenly rose in the middle of the night. At 03:00 GMT (05:00 local time), he received a phone call: five members of his family settled in the township were taken away.
"We have just found the body of a little boy but the others are still missing," he said. He has to go to the morgue. Bodies were found downstream, it could be his relatives.
The national carrier, Malawi Airlines, has canceled all flights to Blantyre until further notice.
On the way to being classified as the longest cyclone ever recorded by meteorologists, Freddy had already affected Madagascar and Mozambique at the end of February. The toll was then 17 dead, thousands displaced and houses devastated.
Returning to the region last week following an unprecedented loop trajectory, it first fell on Madagascar for the second time in two weeks, killing 10 people.
Then he came back to hit Mozambique on Saturday night.
The port city of Quelimane (center), about 40 km from where the cyclone landed, is still largely isolated from the rest of the world: roads, water, electricity are cut in places, according to Guy Taylor, spokesperson from Unicef on site reached by telephone.
Many people are missing, authorities said. And the disaster seems to have exceeded fears: "Emergency shelters were overwhelmed because the number of people affected was higher than expected," Luisa Meque, president of the national disaster management office, told AFP. disasters.
The cyclone which was accompanied by strong winds and torrential rains then moved overnight from Sunday to Monday towards neighboring Malawi, causing flooding and major mudslides. Schools in the country among the poorest in the world have been closed in much of the south.
Freddy should go back to sea during the week and weaken, according to forecasts.
The phenomenon, formed off Australia and which reached the storm stage in early February, has been raging in the Indian Ocean for 35 days. It passed off the French island of Reunion and Mauritius causing limited damage there.
Several storms or cyclones pass through the southwest Indian Ocean every year during the hurricane season, which runs from November to April.
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13/03/2023 22:31:30 - Blantyre (Malawi) (AFP) - © 2023 AFP
