Malawian President Peter Mutharika has declared half the southern African country a disaster zone following torrential rains over the past few days that killed at least 48 people and left around 70,000 homeless. Reutersreport:
The heavy rains have also damaged crops in the country, which last year harvested a bumper 3.9 million tonnes of the staple maize crop, a surplus of almost a million tonnes.
Malawi’s Department of Climate Change and Meteorological Services has warned of heavy rainfall and flash floods in the country for the next two to three weeks.
“So far, it is estimated that 69,995 people have been displaced by the floods and 48 people have lost their lives. The floods have also damaged a lot of hectares of crops, washed away livestock and damaged infrastructure such as roads and bridges,” Mutharika said in a statement late on Tuesday.
He also said many people remained stranded and would need to be rescued from low-lying areas prone to flooding.
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