Tropical Storm Ana leaves death and devastation in Malawi

Around mid-afternoon on 26 January, the banks of the swelling Phalombe River burst and poured onto the adjacent villages, causing havoc as the stray river flooded everything in its wake.

Like 10-year-olds often do, Misheck was playing in an open field with his friends when sudden frantic cries brought their jaunt to a halt.

His attention was drawn to his mother’s desperate screams as she sped across the maize fields, warning villagers of the impending strike from the river, about 100 metres from the edge of the village.

Over the next hour, as the swelling river continued to flood the settlement, villagers packed whatever they could and sought safety and shelter at the primary school on the other side of the road.

The floods left a trail of devastation in its wake, demolishing houses and felling crops in the field.

“Despite my houses falling, I have lost all the crops that were planted in my garden. As you can see, all the sorghum and maize that I had planted have been uprooted by the force of the water. I feel hopeless,” said Misheck’s father Justin.

Misheck, a Standard 3 learner at Bona Primary School in the district of Phalombe in southern Malawi, says he is sad and worried that his dream of becoming a nurse is in jeopardy.

A few houses away, 11-year-old Edna who is a class ahead of Misheck, is equally worried over her ambitions of becoming a teacher.

The two learners are no longer attending classes, even though they are literally sleeping now in classrooms.

And they are not the only ones in the area.

“We moved here [to the school] three days ago. This is the only place we could seek refuge. It was scary,” he said.

The area has just been hit by the devastating effects of Tropical Storm Ana that has affected over 32 group villages under Traditional Authority Jenala in the district, according to Samson Nankhonya Jenala, who is chairman of the Area Civil Protection Committee.

“Our records show that the floods have so far claimed two teenage lives and as it stands, it has affected 24,810 people from 5,056 households,” he said.

Among other notable damage, the floods have washed away vast acres of maize fields and completely demolished 901 houses in this area alone.

Nankhonya explained that 135 more houses have had their roofs blown away, with 2,471 more partially damaged.

“I banked on improving my family's economic status this year through a promising maize yield before the floods hit,” said Justin, a father of three. Misheck is the oldest.

“It's tough, very tough. Imagine, I have to find resources to rebuild my house, apart from worrying about my family’s daily bread. Mostly, I worry about these children’s education."

While the Area Civil Protection Committee has been instrumental in providing food to the stranded communities now camped at the school through their strategic disaster relief aid banks, they say more aid is needed.

“We urgently need books, food, clothes and playing materials. There is no way I can be a nurse without getting some sound education,” said Misheck.

According to Nankhonya, 347 people are currently being kept at Bona Primary School while another 435 people from adjacent communities are being kept at Dzanje Evacuation Camp.

“I know it's an emergency, and it is imperative for authorities to house the affected communities at our school. However, this will disturb our school calendar. Notwithstanding the fact that we have just learnt for two weeks this year," explained Edna.

Her wishes to have the classrooms freed for lessons have seemingly landed on attentive ears as the government has already deployed Malawi Defence Force personnel to the site.

The soldiers are erecting temporary housing units for the stranded communities that may be ready for occupation over the weekend.

According to the Department of Disaster Management Affairs (DoDMA), a total of 20 deaths and two missing persons have been recorded in Malawi since Tropical Storm Ana hit the country on Monday.

In a statement, the Commissioner for Disaster Management Affairs Charles Kalemba said 216,977 people have been affected across 17 councils in the country.

Steve Kamtimaleka is Save the Children’s Humanitarian Manager and he says the impact of Tropical Storm Ana is huge and unimaginable.

“A lot of people have been affected and also there has been huge infrastructure damage both public and private. Over 50,000 people have been displaced and these numbers are likely to increase since assessments are on-going,” he said.

According to Kamtimaleka, once the floods hit Malawi, Save the Children activated its response plan and hit the ground running.

“We have our response team that is working hand in hand with the Government through the DoDMA who are coordinating the response. We are already on the ground conducting a rapid market assessment in some of the affected districts to determine if cash transfers will be feasible and appropriate,” he said.

He added that the organisation’s response will focus on addressing health and nutrition, water, sanitation and hygiene as well as child protection and education needs.

“Our priority however is to ensure that where feasible and appropriate we use cash transfers as a delivery modality because we believe that cash provides a flexible choice to the affected to be able to buy what they need most,” he said.

Kamtimaleka said Save the Children’s call to action is that stakeholders need to come together to support the affected to save lives, especially children and other vulnerable groups who are in dire need of support.