Two soldiers spent the night on a treetop to prevent being carried away by the swift currents of a river below them In flood-devastated Malawi.
The troops’ boat capsized when they were trying to rescue flood victims, so they had to swim until they got to a tree.
Tropical Cyclone Freddy has wreaked havoc on southern Malawi, leaving 20,000 people homeless and killing 225 people.
Rescuers have been digging through the mud to discover survivors.
Blantyre, the capital of Malawi, has been the most severely hit, with numerous landslides there leading to the deaths of many residents, including children.
Several homes have completely vanished, while others have fallen into the floodwaters.
“My best friend, her brother, sister and mother went with the mudslide and their bodies have not been found. It’s devastating. You can’t even mourn,” 19-year-old Blantyre resident Fadila Njolomole was quoted by AFP news agency as saying.
In 10 of the storm’s hardest-hit areas, the government has proclaimed a state of calamity.
Rescue efforts have been impeded by the collapse of roads and bridges, and although the winds and rain have subsided, helicopters have had trouble flying.
The military and police have been instrumental in saving towns trapped on higher ground since the emergency services are overburdened.
The troops who sought refuge under a tree on Tuesday were on a boat sent to rescue families stuck in a village in the Mulanje area, roughly 50 miles (80 kilometers) from Blantyre.
As their boat suffered engine difficulty and capsized, two additional troops and a citizen were able to swim to safety, but the other two were reported missing, prompting concerns that they had drowned.
Later, the defence minister reported that a military chopper had been dispatched to rescue the duo after they had been seen perched on a tree.
The chopper is also anticipated to fly to the area to transport families who are in dire need of assistance.
On Tuesday, a man in another town in Mulanje posted a WhatsApp message warning of strong winds and rain coming from two hilly regions.
He declared, “We have no hope, nowhere to go,” and listed people who needed to be evacuated as included women, children, and the elderly.
It’s unknown if a rescue crew has located them.
Freddy flooded Malawi and neighboring Mozambique with the equivalent of six months’ worth of rain in just six days.
There have been about 20 reported fatalities in Mozambique.
Mozambique’s destruction was less severe than anticipated, according to UN official Myrta Kaulard, because the country had invested in flood defenses after being battered by tropical storms for the previous three years.
“This is a huge demonstration of how much huge investments are required because of the intensity of climate change in a country like Mozambique,” she told the BBC’s Newsday programme.
Freddy is one of only four storms in recorded history to cross the whole Indian Ocean from continental Africa to northwestern Australia. According to the World Meteorological Organization, Freddy may also be the longest-lasting tropical storm ever.
After severely damaging the island nation of Madagascar in the Indian Ocean, the storm hit Mozambique as a cyclone on Sunday — for the second time in less than a month.
According to experts, climate change is causing tropical storms to become wetter, windier, and more intense globally.
While certain communities in Malawi continue to be shut off due to unrelenting rain and strong winds, the death toll is predicted to grow.
In addition to crippling power supply, the storm caused protracted blackouts in most of the country.
The national electricity provider claimed that because of debris buildup at its hydroelectric facility, it was impossible to get it operating.
