The death toll from tropical storm "Ana" in three southern African countries rose to 77, officials revealed on Friday.
The tropical storm caused landfall in Madagascar on Monday before passing into Mozambique and Malawi through the week, bringing torrential rains. Emergency teams worked together to repair damaged infrastructure and help tens of thousands of victims.
On Thursday night, Madagascar declared a state of national disaster as the death toll rose to 48. Mozambique reported 18 killed while 11 had died in Malawi.
Remnants of the storm have passed over Zimbabwe, but no deaths have been reported.
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In Madagascar, 130,000 people fled their homes. In the capital, Antananarivo, schools and gyms were turned into emergency shelters.
“We only brought our most important possessions,” Berthine Razafiarisoa, who sheltered in a gym with his family of 10, said.
Moreover, the deadly storm destroyed 10,000 homes and dozens of schools and hospitals in northern and central Mozambique.
International weather services warned that another storm, named Batsirai, has formed over the Indian Ocean and was expected to make landfall over the weekend.
It “might evolve into a severe tropical storm in the next few days”, the United Nations said in a statement.
“The situation is of extreme concern” and “vulnerability is very, very high,” the UN’s resident coordinator in Mozambique, Myrta Kaulard, said.
“The challenge is titanic, the challenge is extreme,” she said, noting that the storms were hitting “an already extremely vulnerable” region still trying to recover from cyclones Idai and Kenneth, which hit the region in 2019.
“Mozambique is responding to a complex crisis in the north which has caused an additional enormous strain on the budget of the country, on the population,” Kaulard said. “In addition there is also Covid.”
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In Malawi, the government declared a state of natural disaster.
Most of the country lost electricity early in the week, after floodwaters hit generating stations. Power was restored by Thursday in parts of the country, but parts of the electric grid were destroyed.
“Our priority now is restoring power to health establishments, water treatment distribution systems and schools,” the national power utility said in a statement.
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