Canadians across the country mark Remembrance Day
Today Canadians will remember and honour the sacrifice of men and women in uniform who gave their lives in service of the country's values and principles.
After four days of destructive wind and rain, local communities and relief workers are now confronting the aftermath of Cyclone Freddy which has killed more than 250 people and displaced tens of thousands of others across Malawi and Mozambique and may still cause further damage.
Cyclone Freddy dissipated over land late Wednesday, but weather monitoring centers warned that countries are still vulnerable to flooding and landslides.
At least 225 people have been killed in southern Malawi, including within the financial capital of Blantyre, officials said. Around 88,000 people are still displaced and parts of the region remain inaccessible. Malawi's president, Lazarus Chakwera, has declared a 14-day national mourning period. In Mozambique, authorities said at least 53 were killed since late Saturday, with 50,000 more still displaced.
"Roads and bridges have been swept away cutting off communities from much-needed support. Houses and homes have been destroyed leaving families stranded and out in the cold," said Mathew Pickard, the regional director for southern Africa at the aid organization CARE International. "As rescue efforts continue, the death toll is anticipated to rise."
Hundreds of people have been moved to camps but food and clean water is still scarce, said Andrew Mavala, executive director of the Malawi Network for Older Persons, with dozens of older people who don't know how they'll recover.
In Malawi and Mozambique, where cholera outbreaks were already ongoing when Cyclone Freddy ripped through, deaths from the disease and other water-borne illnesses are also expected to rise.
Cyclone Freddy is "very massive in terms of health disruption," said Ahmed Ogwell, the acting director of the Africa's Centre for Disease and Control Prevention. He warned there's "every likelihood we may see cross-border spread" of cholera, which already has outbreaks in Mozambique and Malawi. Both countries recorded more than 3,000 new cholera cases in the past week.
Scientists say human-caused climate change has worsened cyclone activity.
Friederike Otto, a climate scientist at the Grantham Institute who leads the World Weather Attribution group, drew parallels between Cyclone Freddy and last year's Tropical Cyclone Batsirai and others, where a study by the group found that climate change made heavy rainfall more frequent and severe.
"If we did a study on Cyclone Freddy the findings would be very similar, given the processes leading to the heavy rain in Freddy are very similar to those in Batsirai," Otto said.
Cyclone Freddy has caused destruction in southern Africa since late February, when it pummeled Mozambique as well as the islands of Madagascar and Reunion. It then looped back to the mainland.
"Ocean temperatures between Mozambique and Madagascar during the second loop that Freddy took between them were quite warm to keep the cyclone alive and provide a lot of moisture," said Roxy Mathew Koll, a climate scientist at the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology. "These persistently warm ocean waters and excess supply of moisture is a clear signal of climate change."
Freddy first developed near Australia in early February and traveled across the entire southern Indian Ocean before it bounced around the Mozambique Channel. The U.N. weather agency said what made Freddy remarkable is that it never completely dissipated while over land, even after two landfalls.
The World Meteorological Organization has convened an expert panel to determine whether it has broken the record for the longest-ever cyclone in recorded history, which was set by 31-day Hurricane John in 1994. The assessment will take at least two months.
------
Alexandre Nhampossa and Tom Gould contributed to this report from Maputo, Mozambique. Kabukuru reported from Mombasa, Kenya.
------
Associated Press climate and environmental coverage receives support from several private foundations. See more about AP's climate initiative here. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
Today Canadians will remember and honour the sacrifice of men and women in uniform who gave their lives in service of the country's values and principles.
Two nephews of the beloved Harry R. Hamilton share stories about his life and legacy.
Canada has announced changes to their visitor visa policies, effectively ending the automatic issuance of 10-year multiple-entry visas, according to new rules outlined by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada.
U.S. President-elect Donald Trump says that Tom Homan, his former acting U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement director, will serve as "border czar" in his incoming administration.
If Earth's astronomical observatories were to pick up a signal from outer space, it would need an all-hands-on-deck effort to decipher the extraterrestrial message. A father-daughter team of citizen scientists recently deciphered the message. Its meaning, however, remains a mystery.
Since the U.S. Supreme Court鈥檚 2022 Dobbs decision eliminated the federal right to abortion, miscarriage management has become trickier and in some cases, deadlier.
The union representing some 1,200 dockworkers at the Port of Montreal has overwhelmingly rejected a deal with their employers association.
Rod Ashby was desperate to find his wife Kim Ashby after their newly built home in Elk Park, North Carolina, was swept away by Hurricane Helene鈥檚 floodwaters in late September and she went missing.
It was the first time that Canadian UN peacekeeper Michelle Angela Hamelin said she came up against the raw emotion of a people so exasperated with their country's predicament.
A congestion crisis, a traffic nightmare, or unrelenting gridlock -- whatever you call it, most agree that Toronto has a congestion problem. To alleviate some of the gridlock, the Ontario government has announced it plans to remove bike lanes from three major roadways.
For the second year in a row, the 鈥楪ift-a-Family鈥 campaign is hoping to make the holidays happier for children and families in need throughout Barrie.
Some of the most prolific photographers behind CTV Skywatch Pics of the Day use the medium for fun, therapy, and connection.
A young family from Codroy Valley, N.L., is happy to be on land and resting with their newborn daughter, Miley, after an overwhelming, yet exciting experience at sea.
As Connor Nijsse prepared to remove some old drywall during his garage renovation, he feared the worst.
A group of women in Chester, N.S., has been busy on the weekends making quilts 鈥 not for themselves, but for those in need.
A Vancouver artist whose streetside singing led to a chance encounter with one of the world's biggest musicians is encouraging aspiring performers to try their hand at busking.
Ten-thousand hand-knit poppies were taken from the Sanctuary Arts Centre and displayed on the fence surrounding the Dartmouth Cenotaph on Monday.
A Vancouver man is saying goodbye to his nine-to-five and embarking on a road trip from the Canadian Arctic to Antarctica.