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An injured man is helped across in Blantyre, Malawi, on Monday, March 13, 2023. The unrelenting Cyclone Freddy is currently battering southern Africa, killing people in Malawi and Mozambique after it struck the continent for a second time over the weekend.
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Hundreds dead as Cyclone Freddy wrecks Malawi, Mozambique

AP photo / Thoko Chikondi

Hundreds dead as Cyclone Freddy wrecks Malawi, Mozambique

BLANTYRE, Malawi — The devastating Tropical Cyclone Freddy that has ripped through southern Africa in a rare second landfall has killed at least 216 people in Malawi and Mozambique since Saturday night, with the death toll expected to rise.

Heavy rains that triggered floods and mudslides have killed 199 people in Malawi, authorities said Tuesday. President Lazarus Chakwera declared a “state of disaster” in the country's southern region and the now-ravaged commercial capital, Blantyre. Some 19,000 people in the south of the nation have been displaced, according to Malawi’s disaster management directorate.

“Power and communications are down in many affected areas, hindering aid operations,” said Stephane Dujarric, the U.N. Secretary General’s spokesperson at a news briefing Tuesday afternoon. The most affected regions remain inaccessible so the full extent of the damage is so far unknown.

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Reports from Mozambique’s disaster institute on Tuesday confirmed that 17 people have died in the country and 1,900 homes have been destroyed in the coastal Zambezia province. Tens of thousands of people are still holed up in storm shelters and accommodation centers.

Freddy will continue to thump central Mozambique and southern Malawi with extreme rainfall before it exits back to the sea late Wednesday afternoon, the U.N.’s meteorological center on the island of Réunion projected.

Human rights group Amnesty International has called on the international community to mobilize resources and boost aid and rescue efforts in the two countries. Relief efforts in the nations are strained and were already battling a cholera outbreak when Freddy struck.

“It is clear that the official death toll will rise in both Malawi and Mozambique, as will reports of wrecked infrastructure,” said Tigere Chagutah, Amnesty International’s east and southern Africa director. “The affected countries must also be compensated for loss and damage caused by the cyclone."

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In November last year, nations agreed to compensate countries affected by extreme weather exacerbated by human-caused climate change. Cyclones are wetter, more frequent and more intense as the planet heats up, scientists say.

“Mozambique and Malawi are among the countries least responsible for climate change, yet they are facing the full force of storms that are intensifying due to global warming driven mostly by carbon emissions from the world’s richest nations,” Mr. Chagutah added.

Cyclone Freddy has been causing destruction in southern Africa since late February. It also pummeled the island states of Madagascar and Réunion last month as it traversed across the Indian Ocean.

The cyclone has intensified a record seven times and has the highest-ever recorded accumulated cyclone energy, or ACE, which is a measurement of how much energy a cyclone has released over time. Freddy recorded more energy over its lifetime than an entire typical U.S. hurricane season.

Freddy first developed near Australia in early February and is set to be the longest-ever recorded tropical cyclone. The U.N.'s weather agency has convened an expert panel to determine whether it has broken the record set by Hurricane John in 1994 of 31 days.

First Published: March 14, 2023, 6:24 p.m.

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An injured man is helped across in Blantyre, Malawi, on Monday, March 13, 2023. The unrelenting Cyclone Freddy is currently battering southern Africa, killing people in Malawi and Mozambique after it struck the continent for a second time over the weekend.  (AP photo / Thoko Chikondi)
Mothers and their children at a displacement center in Blantyre on Tuesday, March 14, 2023.  (AP photo / Thoko Chikondi)
A mother and her child at a displacement center in Blantyre on March 14.  (AP photo / Thoko Chikondi)
A man passes houses that are submerged in floodwaters in Blantyre on March 14.  (AP photo / Thoko Chikondi)
A road connecting the two cities of Blantyre and Lilongwe is seen damaged following heavy rains caused by Freddy in Blantyre on March 14.  (AP photo / Thoko Chikondi)
A woman at a displacement center in Blantyre on March 14.  (AP photo / Thoko Chikondi)
Mothers and their children at a displacement center in Blantyre, Malawi Tuesday March 14, 2023. The unrelenting Cyclone Freddy that is currently battering southern Africa has killed more than 50 people in Malawi and Mozambique since it struck the continent for a second time on Saturday night. (AP Photo/Thoko Chikondi)  (AP photo / Thoko Chikondi)
Women walk to a nearby displacement center in Blantyre on March 14.  (AP photo / Thoko Chikondi)
A man carries his belongings at a displacement center in Blantyre on March 14.  (AP photo / Thoko Chikondi)
Malawi's minister of water and sanitation, Abida Mia, at a displacement center in Blantyre on March 14  (AP photo / Thoko Chikondi)
People stand next to a strong flowing river in Blantyre on March 13,  (AP photo / Thoko Chikondi)
An injured man is transported to hospital in Blantyre on March 13.  (AP photo / Thoko Chikondi)
AP photo / Thoko Chikondi
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