The death toll in Malawi from tropical storm Freddy has jumped to 190 from the 99 reported previously, the country’s disaster management agency said on Tuesday.
Freddy, one of the strongest storms ever recorded in the southern hemisphere and potentially the longest-lasting tropical cyclone, has killed scores of people and left a trail of destruction in Malawi and Mozambique.
As heavy rains continued to pummel Malawi on Tuesday, 584 people have been injured and 37 are still reported missing, the country’s Department of Disaster Management Affairs said in a statement.
It’s the second time the record-breaking cyclone — which has been causing destruction in southern Africa since late February — made landfall in mainland Africa. It also pummelled the island states of Madagascar and Reunion as it traversed the ocean.
The cyclone, which formed in the first week of February, has intensified a record seven times and has the highest-ever recorded accumulated cyclone energy, or ACE, which is a measurement of how much energy a cyclone has released over time. Freddy recorded more energy over its lifetime than an entire typical U.S. hurricane season.
Freddy first developed near Australia in early February and travelled across the entire southern Indian Ocean. It’s set to be the longest-ever recorded tropical cyclone. The UN’s weather agency has convened an expert panel to determine whether it has broken the record of 31 days set by Hurricane John in 1994.