Cyclone Freddy dissipated after hundreds of people died in Malawi, Mozambique.
After killing hundreds and moving thousands as he broke through Mozambique and Malawi Cyclone Freddy has cleared land since late last week, although flooding threats remain in both countries, the regional monitoring center said late Wednesday.
The cyclone has killed at least 225 people across Malawi’s southern region, including Blantyre, the country’s financial center, according to local authorities. Another 88,000 people have been displaced. In neighboring Mozambique, officials say at least 20 people have died after a storm made landfall in the port city of Quelimane on Saturday evening. According to the agency, more than 45,000 people are still hiding in shelters, and about 1,300 square kilometers are still under water. EU Satellite system Copernicus.
“There are many casualties – injured, missing or dead – and the number will only increase in the coming days,” said Guilherme Botelho, Médecins Sans Frontières’ Blantyre relief project coordinator. Malawi, which is battling a cholera outbreak, is at risk of a resurgence of the disease, Botelho said, “especially given that vaccination coverage in Blantyre is very low.”
CYCLONE FREDDY DESTROYS Across SOUTH AFRICA, HUNDREDS KILLED, DEATH IS EXPECTED TO INCREASE
The relief organization has suspended its outreach programs to protect its staff from flash floods and landslides, but is supporting cyclone relief efforts at a local hospital.
Freddie was originally scheduled to return to the sea on Wednesday, but it has since weakened and is no longer classified as a tropical cyclone, the United Nations weather monitoring center in Réunion said.
But even after the cyclone has dissipated, “the emergency will not end for many communities as rains from mountainous areas continue to flood downstream areas in the coming days,” said Lucy Mwangi, director for Malawi at relief organization Concern Worldwide. .
Hundreds of people died in Mozambique and Malawi as a result of Cyclone Freddy. (AP Photo/Toko Chikondi)
“Even rich countries that are advanced democracies could not match the level of destruction that this cyclone brought,” said Kim Yi Dionne, a political scientist at University of California Riverside. During his journey across the Indian Ocean, Freddie accumulated more energy than during the entire hurricane season in the United States.
Yi Dionne said the extent of the damage is this despite Malawi’s disaster management agency having prepared and planned for “the challenges of our modern climate crisis.”
Scientists say climate change, caused by mostly industrialized countries emitting greenhouse gases into the air, has worsened cyclone activity, making them more intense and more frequent. The recently ended La Niña, which affects weather around the world, has also increased cyclone activity in the region.
African countries, which account for only about 4% of global warming emissions, are “once again paying the highest price for climate change, including with their lives,” said Lynn Chiripampesi, Oxfam’s humanitarian program manager for southern Africa.
Cyclone Freddy has been wreaking havoc across southern Africa since late February, hitting Mozambique last month, as well as the islands of Madagascar and Reunion.
CYCLONE FREDDY CRASHED SOUTH AFRICA, KILLED AT LEAST 44 IN MOZAMBIQUE AND MALAWI
“Freddie is a completely exceptional weather event,” Ann-Clair Fontane, World Meteorological Organization Tropical Cyclone Scientist, told The Associated Press. According to her, his longevity, the distance travelled, the number of times he was empowered, and the amount of energy he accumulated over time were extraordinary.
She added that his second landfall in Mozambique “is explained by the presence of two competing control actions. It’s not uncommon.”
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Freddie first appeared near Australia in early February. The UN weather agency convened a panel of experts to determine if it broke the record for the longest cyclone in human history, set by the 31-day Hurricane John in 1994.