By Blessings Tambala
Eighty-four households from three villages in Traditional Authority Mposa, Machinga District, are desperate after Lingoni River burst its banks and running waters displaced them.
Mposa Village Development Committee Vice Chairperson Felister Laston confirmed the development.
“The area received heavy rains that lasted for about four hours, resulting into the flooding of Lingoni River. We started receiving heavy rains at 7am on Tuesday and, by 9am, almost 36 houses were submerged due to flooding waters from the river,” Laston said.
She added that by 1pm, 84 houses were submerged, with 89 people seeking refuge in a mosque.
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“Out of the 89 people, 49 are children from Kam’bona, Mlomba and Manja villages. We appeal to well-wishers and the government to come to the rescue of the people in the area.
“Both children and adults have abandoned their houses as water levels keep on increasing. These people are lacking food, clothes and other necessities,” she said.
Machinga District Relief and Rehabilitation Officer Daniel Mandala also confirmed the development, saying they are assessing the situation.
Meanwhile, floods have destroyed part of Manja Dyke, which is under construction, livestock and food.
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The development comes after, in March this year, Tropical Cyclone Freddy displaced thousands of people and killed hundreds others after making landfall in Malawi.
And, in September this year, President Lazarus Chakwera appealed for funds from the German government to support Malawi in its Cyclone Freddy Recovery and Reconstruction Budget Plan.
Chakwera asked for financial support towards the estimated $680 million (about K1 trillion) needed for the recovery plan during his meeting with the German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York, the United States.
“Malawi has since developed a costed Cyclone Freddy Recovery and Reconstruction Plan, which shows that Malawi will need $680 million for reconstruction – resources that the Malawi Government does not have,” he said.
Department of Disaster Management Affairs statistics indicate that the Cyclone Freddy-induced death toll is at over 676.
