(Al Jazeera) Mozambique and Malawi have been counting the cost of Storm Freddy, which ripped through Southern Africa for the second time in a month over the weekend, leaving a trail of destruction and killing more than 60 people.
Freddy is one of the strongest storms ever recorded in the southern hemisphere and could be the longest-lasting tropical cyclone, according to the World Meteorological Organization.
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.
In Malawi’s main commercial hub of Blantyre, the central hospital 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.”
Police said rescue teams were looking for people in Chilobwe and Ndirande, two of the worst-affected townships in Blantyre, where it was still raining on Monday and many residents were without power.
At least six people died in Mozambique’s Quelimane, which was struck hard by the storm, authorities told the public broadcaster on Monday.
The full extent of the damage and loss of life in Mozambique in particular is not yet clear, as the power supply and phone signals were cut off in some parts of the affected area.
Mozambique has seen more than a year’s worth of rainfall in the past four weeks, prompting concern that rivers could burst their banks and cause wide-scale flooding.
Malawi has been battling the deadliest cholera outbreak in its history, and UN agencies have warned the situation could worsen because of heavy rains caused by Freddy.
Scientists say climate change is making tropical storms stronger, as oceans absorb heat from greenhouse gas emissions and when warm seawater evaporates heat energy is transferred to the atmosphere.
