Despair in Malawi as cyclone Freddy destroys homes and lives

Relatives of people who lost their lives in the aftermath of after Storm Freddy, search for their bodies at the Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital mortuary in Blantyre, Malawi March 14, 2023. REUTERS/Eldson Chagara

BLANTYRE (Reuters) - Residents of Blantyre's Chilobwe township, one of the areas worst-hit by tropical cyclone Freddy, were woken in the early hours by the roaring sound of mud and water as Malawi was battered by the storm taking a second shot at southern Africa.

By Tuesday afternoon authorities had counted 190 people dead in Malawi, with hundreds more injured and missing. The official death toll in neighbouring Mozambique stood at 20.