Overall Orange alert Flood
in Malawi

Event summary

This flood can have a medium humanitarian impact based on the magnitude and the affected population and their vulnerability.

GDACS ID FL 1101890
Glide number: FL-2023-000037-MWI
Death: 225
Displaced: 88312
Countries: Malawi
From - To 13 Mar - 16 Mar

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Virtual OSOCC
Meteo assessment
Satellite products
Analytical products
Malawi, Madagascar, Mozambique - Tropical cyclone FREDDY, update (ECHO 16 Mar 2023)Thu, 16 Mar 2023 11:19

  • The Southern Region in southern Malawi has been affected by heavy rainfall and strong winds due to the passage of FREDDY on 12-15 March that caused floods, and landslides (including the deadly landslide in Blantyre Town) and resulted in casualties and damage.
  • According to the Department of Disaster Management Affairs of Malawi (DoDMA), as of 15 March, at least 225 people have died, and 88,312 others have been displaced and sheltered in 165 accommodation centres.
  • Humanitarian actors are starting to provide immediate response where access is possible and EU Humanitarian staff is being deployed.
  • For the next 24 hours, light to moderate rain is forecast over most parts of the country.
  • Since 21 of February, FREDDY has hit twice Madagascar and Mozambique, affecting overall nearly 800,000 people and displacing over 120,000.
Malawi - Tropical cyclone FREDDY, update (ECHO 17 Mar 2023)Fri, 17 Mar 2023 11:31

  • As of 16 March, tropical cyclone FREDDY is completely dissipated and it is a low pressure area over the Mozambique Channel.
  • Very heavy rainfall and strong winds, associated to its passage across southern Malawi, caused severe floods and triggered landslides that have resulted in an increased number of casualties and widespread damage.
  • The Department of Disaster Management Affairs of Malawi (DoDMA) and World Food Programme (WFP) report, as of 16 March, 326 fatalities, 201 people missing, 796 injured, more than 183,000 displaced, about 500 rescued people and a total of approximately 501,000 affected people across the Southern Region.
  • Over the next 48 hours, more heavy rainfall is forecast over the whole country.
Malawi - Tropical cyclone FREDDY, update (ECHO 20 Mar 2023)Mon, 20 Mar 2023 11:07

  • Very heavy rainfall, associated to the passage of the tropical cyclone FREDDY and its remnants on 12-15 March, affected southern Malawi, causing severe floods and triggering landslides that have resulted in an increased number of casualties and widespread damage.
  • The Department of Disaster Management Affairs of Malawi (DoDMA) reports, as of 19 March, 476 fatalities, 349 people still missing, 918 injured people and nearly 491,000 displaced people (a number of these in 533 accomodation centres) across the Southern Region.
  • Over the next 24 hours, more heavy rainfall with locally very heavy rainfall is forecast over the whole country.
Malawi - Tropical Cyclone FREDDY and floods, update (ECHO 21 Mar 2023)Tue, 21 Mar 2023 10:28

  • Heavy rainfall, associated to the passage of the tropical cyclone FREDDY and its remnants on 12-15 March, affected southern Malawi, causing severe floods and triggering landslides.
  • The death toll continues to increase across the country. The Department of Disaster Management Affairs of Malawi (DoDMA) reports, as of 20 March, 499 fatalities, 427 people missing, more than 1,300 injured and nearly 508,250 displaced people (a number of these across 534 accomodation centres) throughout the Southern Region.
  • Over the next 24 hours, more heavy rainfall with locally heavy rainfall is forecast over most of the country, while moderate rainfall is forecast over the southern part of the Southern Region.
Malawi, Mozambique - Tropical Cyclone FREDDY and floods, update (ECHO 22 Mar 2023)Wed, 22 Mar 2023 10:36

  • The passage of the Tropical Cyclone FREDDY and its remnants on 11-15 March, affected southern Malawi and central-northern Mozambique (in particular Tete and Zambezia Provinces), causing severe floods and landslides that have resulted in an increased number of casualties and widespread damage.
  • In Malawi, the Department of Disaster Management Affairs of Malawi (DoDMA) reports, as of 21 March, 507 fatalities, 437 people currently still missing, 1,332 injured people and 553,614 displaced people (a number of these across 543 accomodation centres) throughout the Southern Region.
  • In Mozambique, the National Institute for Disaster Management (INGD) reports 165 fatalities, 511 injured people, approximately 163,456 displaced people (a number of these across 213 accomodation centres) and a total of nearly 886,487 affected people across Zambezia, Tete, Niassa, Manica and Sofala Provinces, mainly due to the second landfall of FREDDY occurred on 11 March.
  • Over the next 24 hours, more heavy rainfall with locally very heavy rainfall is still forecast over most of Malawi, northern Mozambique and most of Madagascar.
Malawi - Tropical Cyclone FREDDY and floods, update (ECHO 24 Mar 2023)Fri, 24 Mar 2023 10:48

  • Heavy rainfall, associated to the passage of the tropical cyclone FREDDY and its remnants on 12-15 March, affected southern Malawi, causing severe floods and triggering landslides.
  • The death toll continues to increase across the country. The Department of Disaster Management Affairs of Malawi (DoDMA) reports, as of 23 March, 511 fatalities, 533 people still missing, 1,332 injured people and 563,771 displaced people (a number of these across 577 accomodation centres) throughout the Southern Region.
  • On 23 March, Malawi requested support from the EU Civil Protection Mechanism for shelter, health, WASH, non-food, and food items.
  • Over the next 24 hours, more heavy rainfall is forecast over Northern and Central Regions, while drier conditions are expected over the already affected Southern Region.
Malawi, mid-March 2023The Southern Region in southern Malawi has been affected by heavy rainfall and strong winds due to the passage of FREDDY on 12-15 March that caused floods, and landslides (including the deadly landslide in Blantyre Town) and resulted in casualties and damage. According to the Department of Disaster Management Affairs of Malawi (DoDMA), as of 15 March, at least 225 people have died, 41 are still missing, 707 have been injured and 88,312 others have been displaced and sheltered in 165 accommodation centres.Thu 16 Mar 2023DG ECHO Daily Flash (ERCC Portal)
Detailed event map. European Union, 2024. Map produced by EC-JRC.
The boundaries and the names shown on this map do not imply official endorsement or acceptance by the European Union.

Updates on volcanic activity (Smithsonian)

Latest media headlines

PHOTOS: Cyclone Freddy affects 500,000 people in Malawi Pictorial Mar .. 3/18/2023 11:23:00 AM.

Young boys pass by a house demolished by mudslide at Manje informal settlement up the slopes of Soche Hill in Blantyre, southern Malawi, on March 17, 2023. The death toll in Malawi from Cyclone Freddy has risen to 326, bringing the total nu
...(more)
The deadly cyclone that lasted more than a month 3/18/2023 9:36:00 AM.

How long has Freddy lasted? Freddy has finally been declared over by the French Meteorological service. The storm was named by the Australian Bureau of Meteorology on 4 February and and finally came to an end on 14 March. It was strong enou
...(more)
The deadly cyclone that lasted more than a month 3/18/2023 9:19:00 AM.

How long has Freddy lasted? Freddy has finally been declared over by the French Meteorological service. The storm was named by the Australian Bureau of Meteorology on 4 February and and finally came to an end on 14 March. It was strong enou
...(more)
The cyclone that lasted more than a month 3/17/2023 4:35:00 PM.

What is interesting about Freddy is how far it has travelled. It began its journey off the coast of north-west Australia, crossing the Southern Indian Ocean from east to west, one of only four storms in history to do so. Freddy broke the
...(more)

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Estimated casualties (PAGER)

USGS estimates the number of casualties for each earthquake for the Prompt Assessment of Global Earthquakes for Response (PAGER) product.
The graph shows the current fatalities estimate.

Exposed population

Data, images, links, services and documents

For this events, GDACS has links to information from the following sources: EC-JRC (36), (2), NASA (4), WMO (1), INFORM (2),