At least 40 people have been confirmed dead on Monday from tropical storm Freddy in Malawi, where numbers are still coming in from areas affected by flooding, government officials said.
A residential area in Blantyre city was covered in mud water as search and rescue operations dug through rocks to find trapped bodies.
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 Organisation.
It pummeled 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.
Malawi has been battling the deadliest cholera outbreak in its history, and UN agencies have warned the situation could worsen because of Freddy’s heavy rains.
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.
