Malawi and Mozambique have continued the scramble to rescue survivors from Tropical Cyclone Freddy on Wednesday as the death toll rose above 270.
Freddy tore through southern Africa for the second time in a month over the weekend and was still causing heavy rain on Wednesday, hampering relief efforts.
In a statement, Malawi’s disaster management department said that the death toll from the second hit stood at 225, up from 190 on Tuesday, with 707 people injured and 41 still missing.
In neighbouring Mozambique, the disaster agency reported that at least 21 people have died as of Tuesday.
The overall death toll since Freddy first made landfall in February is now estimated at more than 270 in Malawi, Mozambique and Madagascar.
Malawi’s army, police, the local Red Cross and other aid agencies were conducting search and rescue operations, with commercial hub Blantyre one of the areas hardest-hit.
A spokesperson for the disaster agency, Paulo Tomas said, “Our priority now, as we take stock of what really occurred, is to search and rescue people in most devastated areas. We’ve rescued thousands but thousands more are still unreachable.”
Meanwhile, power supplies in Malawi have been severely disrupted by the storm after the national electricity generation company shut down major hydroelectric power stations.
READ ALSO FROM NIGERIAN TRIBUNE
