Tropical storm Ana leaves at least 88 dead in Madagascar, Mozambique and Malawi | International

Tropical storm Ana has killed at least 88 people in the last week in Madagascar, Malawi and Mozambique, according to authorities in the three countries. Recovery operations after the heavy rains are ongoing as the region braces for the threat of another similar magnitude weather event in the coming days. Storm Ana reached Madagascar last Saturday with days of intense rainfall, and on Monday it reached Mozambique and Malawi. Madagascar declared a state of emergency on Thursday night, with a balance that already amounted to 48 dead.

The victims died, among other causes, in landslides and in buildings that Ana collapsed in her path. According to the data that was known on Thursday, the dead in Mozambique and Malawi were estimated at 20 in each country. In Mozambique the storm destroyed nearly 10,000 homes, according to the UN, and in Malawi, which was the last country to be hit, it has caused massive power outages.

In all three nations, Ana has caused flooding that has affected hundreds of thousands of people, according to the United Nations. “This latest storm is a stark reminder that the climate crisis is a reality,” said María Luisa Fornara, UNICEF Representative in Mozambique. Through its Twitter account, the organization assured that since Sunday it was already delivering essential supplies before the imminent passage of Ana, which included water purification materials, medical kits and food to help children and their families in the catastrophe. .

The region has been hit repeatedly by tropical storms and cyclones in recent years, destroying homes, infrastructure and farmland in their wake, displacing thousands of people. In some cases, communities that are still recovering are hit again. Experts quoted by the Reuters news agency say that storms are becoming stronger and more frequent as a result of climate change.

Meanwhile, another storm, called Batsirai, is now heading towards the east coast of Africa. The French weather service Météo France on Friday described Batsirai as a small rainfall system that poses no immediate threat to the eastern islands of Madagascar. However, he stated that the evolution of the intensity and the path of the storm remains uncertain. For its part, the National Institute of Meteorology of Mozambique warned that Batsirai still has the potential to become a strong tropical storm.

Follow all the international information in Facebook Y Twitter, o en our weekly newsletter.