Chakwera urges MCP members to help disaster victims as floods kill 26

Main opposition Malawi Congress Party (MCP) president Lazarus Chakwera has appealed to the party members to help the flood affected people as thousands  are left homeless with hundreds injured and umerous property including houses and domestic utensils, crop fields and infrastructure such as roads and bridges have extensively been damaged.

Since intense rainfall accompanied by strong windstorms started falling-primarily over the Southern regions 26 people are confirmed dead.

Speaking before launching the election manifesto for MCP in Lilongwe on Saturday at CrossRoads Hotel, Chakwera  appealed to MCP members to help the  disaster affected people, saying religiously “blessed is the hand that gives than the hand receiving.”

President Peter Mutharika has declared a state of national disaster after the floods have not spared the energy sector as on Friday the Electricity Generation Company (Egenco) was forced to shut its Nkula and Kapichira Power Stations making Egenco lose 270 megawatts (MW) of hydro generation capacity against the available capacity of 320MW.

Department of Climate Change and Meteorological Services said the heavy rains were as a result of deep low pressure area which initially developed in the Mozambican Channel and had intensified due to the presence of the Inter-Tropical Convergence Zone oscillating over Southern Malawi.