The President of Malawi announced Thursday that Cyclone Freddy , which lasted for an exceptional period, killed 326 people in the country, according to a new toll, while the total number of victims in South African countries exceeded 400 since the arrival of this phenomenon at the end of February.

"Since yesterday (Wednesday), the death toll from this disaster has increased from 225 to 326, and the number of displaced people has doubled to 183,159," said Lazarus Chakwera, during a visit to Blantyre (south), the epicenter of the storms.

The hurricane, which struck the region twice, following a ring path rarely recorded by meteorologists, killed 73 people in Mozambique and 17 in Madagascar.

The cyclone formed off the coast of Australia in early February and passed an unprecedented distance of more than 8,000 km from east to west in the Indian Ocean.

It made landfall for the first time on February 21 on the eastern coast of Madagascar, killing seven people. The phenomenon, which has been going on for more than 35 days, then struck Mozambique, killing ten people.

Then the cyclone hit Madagascar for the second time in early March, killing ten people. Then he headed towards Mozambique, where he caused 63 deaths.

But in Malawi, which has so far only seen an increase in rainfall levels and where the cyclone finally struck on Monday, the toll was the highest.

The epicenter of the disaster is in the densely populated region of Blantyre, the country's economic capital. A state of disaster and two weeks of national mourning have been declared. The police and army were deployed.

President Chakwera repeated his call for help on Thursday, saying the "needs are huge". The day before, the president had called for international help to deal with the massive devastation, describing the disaster as a "national tragedy".

And the hurricane, whose strength weakened with winds that were still reaching a speed of 200 km per hour, carried heavy rains that led to floods and landslides. Rescue operations are continuing and corpses are being dispersed.

The southwest Indian Ocean is hit by tropical storms and cyclones several times a year during the cyclone season, which runs from November to April.