Malawi 2019 Floods Post Disaster Needs Assessment Report
Emergency relief and response
Malawi is highly vulnerable to the impacts of extreme weather events given its location along the great
African Rift Valley, rapid population growth, unsustainable urbanization, climate variability and change,
and environmental degradation. The most common weather-related shocks affecting Malawi include floods, drought, stormy rains and hailstorms. Over the past five decades, Malawi has experienced more than 19 major floods and seven droughts, with these events increasing in frequency, magnitude and scope over the years. In early March 2019, heavy rains developed from a Tropical Depression 11 that formed offshore central Mozambique. Heavy rains hit Malawi, causing severe flooding in the Southern and, to a lesser extent, Central Region of the country. These disaster events have had a significant impact on people’s lives, livelihoods and socioeconomic infrastructure in the affected areas, pushing a large number of people into poverty and food insecurity.