Attachments
Date of event
04-02-2026
What happened, where and when?
Persistent heavy rains triggered widespread flooding across several districts, particularly lakeshore areas such as Nkhotakota, which has been the most severely affected.
Nkhotakota District experienced two waves of devastating floods, first in December 2025 with rainfall exceeding 285 mm in a single day and again on 20 January 2026 with continued flood warnings that materialised into impacts. The second wave compounded the destruction, striking communities that had not yet recovered from the earlier disaster. In total, 10,912 households (49,104 people) were affected in Nkhotakota District alone. Floods displaced 2,132 households (10,912 people) into 14 camps where thousands are still hosted, caused 12 deaths, 39 injuries, and 2 missing persons, with significant damage to homes, infrastructure, schools, health facilities, crops, and livelihoods, creating urgent humanitarian needs. These floods have been the result of several alerts, especially in January, some even reaching the threshold for the MRCS Early Action Protocol (EAP) activation.
Based on verified assessments from 21st January, the Government highlighted extensive damage and addressed a request to the Malawi Red Cross for support received on 4th February. Recognizing the mobilisation of the MRCS through the forecast alerts, this call for support aims to ensure a rapid scale-up of life-saving assistance to the people in need. The compounded impact of repeated flooding until late January, coupled with nationwide destruction of previous floods in other districts, has left significant gaps in stakeholders' response capacity in Nkhotakota District, underscoring the importance of coordinated humanitarian response and sustained resource mobilization.