30 killed, 230,000 left homeless by Malawi floods

Floods in southern Malawi have killed 30 people and left over 230,000 people without shelter, a minister said Sunday.

Homeland Security Minister Nicholas Dausi, whose ministry is also responsible for disaster management affairs, on Sunday visited people affected by the deluges in two of the 14 southern districts affected.

He said his ministry had received reports of 30 deaths and about 238,000 villagers losing their homes since the start of the incessant downpours earlier this week.

"Their immediate needs are food, tents, blankets and chlorine to treat drinking water and anti-malaria medication," he said.

Malawi's President Arthur Peter Mutharika declared a state of disaster in the region late on Friday, after the storm caused rivers to break their banks, leaving villages underwater, and in some areas knocked out power and water supplies.

The same storm has also caused flooding in regions of Mozambique.

Mutharika directed emergency relief services to be coordinated immediately and also ordered Malawi's army to assist those trapped and displaced.

After several houses in his village collapsed, Tobias Timothy, who was camping in a school in Neno, a district around 45 kilometers (28 miles) north of Malawi's second-largest city Blantyre, said he and others in the school were waiting for help.

"We need shelters," he told Reuters. "School is in session so we don't know what happens when learners return on Monday."