BLANTYRE – Malawi’s president, Lazarus Chakwera, has called for global assistance in the aftermath of Cyclone Freddy, which has caused widespread flooding and mudslides in the southeast African nation.
The storm, which hit the country for a second time in less than three weeks, has killed at least 225 people and wounded hundreds, with the government promising 1.6 billion kwacha ($1.5 million) to help those affected.
Rescuers have been working to reach survivors in the south of the country, with the cyclone also causing devastation in neighbouring Mozambique, where 63 people have died and 49,000 have been displaced.
Chakwera described the damage caused by the cyclone as “a national tragedy”, with the level of devastation “greater than the resources we have at our disposal”.
He declared two weeks of national mourning and attended a funeral ceremony for some of the victims in Blantyre, where 21 coffins were lined up under a tent.
The president said that the damage and plight of the victims were “far worse than the images and footage we have been seeing”.
Cyclone Freddy began to fade on Wednesday after travelling 8,000 kilometres across the Indian Ocean, setting an unofficial record as the world’s longest tropical storm.
The president called it the third storm to “assault” Malawi in 13 months, saying it was “a testament to the realities of climate change”.
Localised thunderstorms were expected to persist, and flood levels remained high in several areas, hampering emergency efforts.
The country is already facing its deadliest cholera outbreak in history, with more than 1,600 people killed since 2022.
Chakwera said that the coffins “laid side-by-side, including several from the same family, was nothing short of heart-breaking”.
The army and police are leading search and rescue operations, set to continue for at least two more days. However, some people have complained that government assistance has been slow in coming, with many of the displaced now sheltering in 165 temporary camps across the country.
