More than 200 people have been confirmed killed by Cyclone Freddy, which tore through southern Malawi for a second time on Monday, washing away homes, roads, and farmers’ fields.

Grace Joseph, in the tea-growing district of Thyolo, was one of the storm’s victims. Her maize crop was looking good this season. That is until Freddy – the longest-lasting tropical cyclone on record – struck again, and this time with more devastating effect than when it first touched down last month.

More than 20,000 people have been displaced, and the government has now declared a state of disaster in the 10 hardest-hit southern regions.

“As it now stands, I will have to continue being dependent on food aid,” Joseph, 62, told The New Humanitarian. After a poor crop last year, she had pinned her hopes on a decent harvest to feed her family and get back on her feet.

Farmers in southern Malawi have faced a series of climate disasters in recent years – from storms to drought – that has deepened the already troubling levels of rural poverty. In January last year, more than 900,000 people were affected by Cyclone Ana, followed two months later by Cyclone Gombe, which caused yet more damage.

“Just as the people were recovering from that experience, Freddy has washed away all what they hoped for; it’s now hard to imagine how these people will survive,” Senior Chief Malemia of Nsanje district told The New Humanitarian.

Densely populated and agriculture-dependent, Malawi is extremely vulnerable to the effects of climate change – even under scenarios predicting only modest future temperature increases. As a result, experts are calling on the authorities to urgently rethink their agricultural policies and find “climate-smart” alternatives to better insulate smallholder farmers from climate-related shocks over the coming seasons.

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THE NEW HUMANITARIAN