<div style="text-align: justify; "><b style="font-size: 1rem;">Malawi's president appealed Wednesday for global support to tackle "a national tragedy" after Cyclone Freddy pummelled the southeast African nation, causing flooding and mudslides that have killed hundreds.</b><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The storm returned to the African coast at the weekend for a second time in less than three weeks, leaving a trail of death and destruction, but it had largely spared Malawi the first time around.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"The level of devastation we are dealing with here is greater than the resources we have at our disposal," President Lazarus Chakwera said in declaring two weeks of national mourning.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The government has promised 1.6 billion kwacha ($1.5 million) to assist the tens of thousands of Malawians affected by the storm, which authorities say has killed at least 225 in the country and wounded hundreds.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Rescuers scrambled to reach survivors in southern parts of Malawi, mostly around the commercial capital of Blantyre, after Freddy smashed into the country and neighbouring Mozambique, triggering floods and landslides that have killed nearly 290 people in both countries.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The cyclone began to fade Wednesday after travelling 8,000 kilometres (5,000 miles) across the Indian Ocean, before looping back over ocean and then reversing course to strike Africa a second time, setting an unofficial record as the world's longest tropical storm.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Chakwera said Freddy was the third storm to "assault" Malawi in 13 months, calling it "a testament to the realities of climate change".</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">After visiting some of the affected areas, he said the damage and the plight of the victims were "far worse than the images and footage we have been seeing".</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The president also attended a funeral ceremony for some of the victims in the Blantyre township of Chilobwe.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"This is a national tragedy," Chakwera, wearing a raincoat and rubber boots, told mourners at a service held at a primary school where 21 coffins, some decked with little more than simple wreaths, were lined up under a tent.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In a national address, he said the sight of the coffins "laid side-by-side, including several from the same family, was nothing short of heartbreaking".</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">- 'You can't even mourn' -</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Weather conditions were expected to improve as the storm dissipated after days of torrential rains, but localised thunderstorms would persist, Malawian forecasters said.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Flood levels remained high in several areas, hampering emergency efforts.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In Mozambique, the storm led to 63 deaths and displaced 49,000 people according to official statistics.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">President Filipe Nyusi appealed for aid to rebuild destroyed infrastructure, in an address to the nation Wednesday night.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In Malawi, the army and police were leading search and rescue operations, which are set to continue for at least two more days.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Many people perished in landslides that swept away flimsy homes built on slopes.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"Four people from my family are still missing as they are buried in the mud," Alabu Wiseman, 24, said from a Blantyre school serving as a temporary shelter.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Across the country, more than 88,000 people have been displaced, with many sheltering in 165 temporary camps.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Some people complained that government assistance had been slow in coming.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"We feel abandoned," said Fadila Njolomole, 19. "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."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The impoverished country is already grappling with the deadliest cholera outbreak in its history, which has killed more than 1,600 people since last year.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">- Record breaker -</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The storm has unofficially broken the World Meteorological Organization's benchmark as the longest tropical cyclone on record, set in 1994 for a 31-day storm named John.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Freddy became a named storm on February 6, making landfall in Madagascar on February 21 and sweeping over the island before reaching Mozambique on February 24.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">It then returned to the Indian Ocean and gathered new force over the warm waters, then reversed course to come back much more powerful, packing wind gusts of up to 200 kilometres per hour (125 mph).</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Cyclones tracking across the entire Indian Ocean are very infrequent, meteorologists say, with the last occurring in 2000. AFP</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">bnbd24/kh</div>