Cyclone Freddy death toll in Malawi expected to exceed 1,000

Malawian authorities today acknowledged that the death toll from Cyclone Freddie could be in excess of a thousand, and there are chances that search and rescue teams will find people still alive.

“Seven days have passed, and the chances of finding those stranded alive are low,” Charles Kalemba, head of the anti-crisis agency, admitted today, quoted by the Spanish news agency Efe.

Malawi rescue teams have confirmed about 500 deaths and reported that almost 350 people are officially missing, but more than 1,300 people are seriously injured, and more than half a million were forced to leave the region due to the passage of Cyclone Freddy, mainly in 14 cities of Malawi, which also caused damage and loss of life in Mozambique.

The United Nations has already asked for help from the international community to help those affected, and President Lazarus Chakvera has declared 14 days of national mourning until March 29 to “commemorate the lives of those killed by the cyclone.”

Cyclone Freddy is one of the longest and most comprehensive in decades, covering more than 10,000 kilometers since it formed in northern Australia on February 4 and crossed the entire Indian Ocean to the African continent.

It reached the east coast of Madagascar on 21 February and returned to the island on 5 March, leaving a total of 17 dead and 300,000 injured.

It arrived in Mozambique on February 24 and touched down again on March 11, killing at least 80 people, higher than the government’s official figure of 66.

According to the World Meteorological Organization, Cyclone Freddy could have broken the record for the longest duration of Hurricane and Typhoon John, which lasted 31 days in 1994, but this can only be confirmed after this meteorological phenomenon has dissipated.