As the country continues to recover from one of the continent’s worst cyclones in the last two decades, Malawi’s President Lazarus Chakwera announced on Wednesday that the death toll from Cyclone Freddy has dramatically risen to over one thousand.
In late February and March, Cyclone Freddy ravaged Malawi, Mozambique, and Madagascar, causing extensive destruction.
Chakwera estimated that more than two million people were impacted by the typhoon and that more than half a million were compelled to forsake their homes due to the devastation of roads and other infrastructure.
Hundreds of people were still reported missing in Malawi at the end of March, and he was unable to explain why the death toll had risen from an estimate of over 500 on March 20 to more than 1,000 by the end of the month.
Freddy formed in the Indian Ocean off the coast of Australia, traversed the entirety of the South Indian Ocean, and made landfall in Madagascar, a distance of more than 3,100 kilometers (4,970 miles).
