Damn you, freddy!

It poured, never really rained much. It has been whooshing swiftly and with devastating force, galloping with it entire neighbourhoods in some cases.

In the 10 affected districts in the Southern Region, Tropical Cyclone Freddy ripped through homes and snuffed out scores of human lives in a 72-hour real-time horror sweep.

On its way to every corner, Freddy, one of the strongest storms to ever visit the southern hemisphere, razed down critical infrastructure and took off with a chunk of an already wobbly economy that could push millions into the lowest depths of poverty.

By 6pm yesterday, the Department of Disaster Management Affairs (Dodma) reported that 99 people had died, while 16 people are still missing and 134 are nursing critical injuries.

In a telephone interview, Dodma Commissioner for Disaster Charles Kalemba said 4 000 people were affected and are seeking shelter in nearby schools and designated structures in their areas.

Briefing journalists last evening, he said 85 of the deaths were recorded in Blantyre City alone.

Kalemba said camps have been established in Chilobwe, Ndirande, Soche and Manja in Blantyre City while Nsanje District has six camps for the displaced people.

During the briefing, Blantyre district commissioner Alex Mdooko appealed to people missing their relations to check at Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital (Qech) as the facility was overwhelmed.

On the other hand, Malawi Defence Force Deputy Chief of Military Operations Colonel Lameck Kalenga lamented that they were facing limitations in terms of equipment as soldiers are using hand tools to dig up dead bodies.

“Another limitation is accessibility as some areas cannot be accessed by machines,” he said.

Blantyre City has turned out to be the epicentre as Southern West Police Region spokesperson Beatrice Mikuwa earlier said 63 bodies were recovered from the rubble resulting from mudslides in the commercial capital and surrounding areas.

 “The figures will keep changing as we are still searching for the bodies. Those whose relatives are missing should go and check at Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital,” she said in an interview.

The badly affected areas include Chilobwe, Ndirande, Manase, Chileka, Machinjiri, Chigumula, Soche and Bangwe.

At the foot of Soche Hill in Chilobwe and Soche area, also known as Three Ways, water gushed out and with its force swept everything along its way, including residential houses.

One common thing in the worst affected areas is that people constructed houses around what was previously designated as protected areas for the forest reserves at the base of Soche Hill.

Infrastructure was not spared either as several houses have been levelled to the ground, roads cut off and electricity poles felled down.

The Roads Authority (RA) has since temporarily closed the M1 section between ‘Kandodo Corner Shop’ and Chileka Roundabout in Blantyre due to a damaged culvert near Kabula Police Unit.

In a statement, RA said the damaged culvert is located about three kilometres (km) from ‘Kandodo Corner Shop’ and five km from Chileka Roundabout at Kameza.

“The Roads Authority is advising the public that all traffic should use the Clock Tower- Chileka Roundabout road [also known as Magalasi Road],” it reads.

Meanwhile, the Department of Climate Change and Meteorological Services said Tropical Cyclone Freddy will continue to cause torrential rains associated with gusty and strong winds in most parts of the Southern Region.

In an update yesterday, the department said rainfall accumulation that could reach between 300 and 400mm in 48 hours over the Southern Region is expected. The wind intensity will gust to around 80 km per hour in some areas.

Reads the statement in part: “Therefore, the threat of damaging winds and heavy flooding remains very high. Some of the notable 24-hour rainfall figures reported today at 8:00 am include 291.1mm from Bvumbwe-Thyolo, 268.6mm Chichiri -Blantyre, 261.0mm Chatha-Blantyre, 263.1mm Chididi-Nsanje, 210.6mm Fatima-Nsanje ,199.0mm Phalombe, 185.0mm Makhanga-Nsanje, 135.5mm Lurwe-Nsanje, 127.2mm Malosa-Zomba, 99 mm Machinga.”

The department further said the areas expected to be highly impacted still remain Nsanje, Chikwawa, Mulanje, Thyolo, Phalombe, Chiradzulu, Mwanza, Blantyre, Zomba and Neno, but the situation is likely to extend to Machinga and Mangochi districts.

Meanwhile, both the Ministry of Labour and Malawi Congress of Trade Union have advised employers and workers to take reasonable steps to avoid exposure to risk or injury in light of the ongoing Cyclone Freddy.

The ministry said in a statement that where possible, employees should be allowed to report to work only when there is a guarantee that their safety would not be compromised and, where appropriate, be allowed to work from home.

It reads: “Employees in essential services such as medical personnel, ambulance drivers, and disaster and emergency management shall be required to report for work. However, the said employees must be provided with adequate protective gear and a work environment that ensures their safety, health and welfare.”

Under Malawi’s labour laws, it is the duty of an employer to take reasonable care for the safety of his or her employee.

In Nsanje District, over 361 houses have collapsed in Traditional Authority Mlolo after the K380 million earth dyke government constructed along Thangazi River two months ago succumbed to flash floods yesterday.

Gowoke village civil protection committee chairperson Patrick Zambezi said household utensils, crops, poultry and livestock have been washed away.

“So far, 93 houses have collapsed in the area of group village head Gowoke, 180 in Chatinga and 88 in Chipondeni,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Electricity Generation Company Limited (Egenco) says it is experiencing unstable generation system due to Cyclone Freddy and has shut down all major hydro power stations.

Egenco said in a statement the shut down stations are under close observation.

Reads the statement: “We want to assure the public that all effort is being done to ensure that no damage is caused to the infrastructure at the power stations.

“We will continue to take all necessary precautionary measures, including shutting down machines when need be, to ensure that we protect the power stations from serious damage until the cyclone is over.”

It further said because of the continuous heavy rains in most parts affected by cyclone, all the tributaries of the Shire River are flooded, thereby sweeping away a lot of trash and bringing it to the power stations.

Tropical Storm Freddy landed into Malawi on Friday characterised by incessant rains and winds that disrupted the course of life and forced Ministry of Education and private schools to suspend classes.

The cyclone also affected air travel as planes could not land at Chileka International Airport in Blantyre on Sunday due to bad weather. Passengers were forced to disembark from Kamuzu International Airport in Lilongwe and travelled by road to Blantyre.