March 12, 2023
3 mins read

Tropical Cyclone Freddy hammers Mozambique for second time

In a statement released Saturday, Malawi Red Cross said it had activated its early response teams in southern Malawi to prepare for the cyclone…reports Asian Lite News

Record-breaking Cyclone Freddy made its second landfall in Mozambique Saturday night, pounding the southern African nation with heavy rains and disrupting transport and telecommunications services.

French weather agency Météo-France warned of “destructive and devastating” winds and “dangerous seas and heavy rains” that could lead to landslides. It said Freddy will go further inland through the weekend, generating heavy rains in Mozambique and southern Malawi, with rain also likely in Zimbabwe and Zambia.

Its the second time Freddy has hit the country, with the cyclone originally making landfall late last month.

Météo-France also raised concerns that Freddy is unlikely to weaken over land in the coming week and has a high probability of exiting back into the sea. Freddy made landfall with maximum wind speeds at sea measuring 155 kilometers (around 100 miles) an hour and sea gusts averaging 220 kilometers (around 140 miles) an hour, the agency said.

Freddy was initially on course to make landfall in the country Friday night but stalled over the Mozambique channel. The cyclone then intensified on Saturday and regained strength as it barrelled toward land, Mozambique’s National Institute of Meteorology said.

The cyclone’s second punch is showering a low-lying, vast land teeming with rivers and “almost all of them have no dam” to ease flooding, said Salomao Bandeira, a scientist at Mozambique’s Universidade Eduardo Mondlane. Flooding in the country earlier this year slammed regions where major rivers are controlled by dams, allowing some degree of control, Bandeira said, raising fears this hit could lead to more destruction.

The projected deluge is already worrying health and disaster agencies in both Mozambique and Malawi, who have recently been battling cholera cases and other water-borne ailments. The U.N. and EU-led disaster alert system has already issued a red alert projecting that some 2.3 million people will be impacted. Mozambique’s disaster institute has moved thousands of people to storm shelters in anticipation.

“More lives are being saved in Mozambique today” due to early preparedness, Bandeira said.

In a statement released Saturday, Malawi Red Cross said it had activated its early response teams in southern Malawi to prepare for the cyclone.

Earlier in the week, Freddy’s longevity and baffling trajectories caused the U.N. weather agency to set up a committee to determine whether it has broken the record as the longest-lasting tropical cyclone in recorded history after traversing more than 8,000 kilometres (5,000 miles) in the southern Indian Ocean.

The U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said Freddy has already catapulted into the record books for the second-ever highest accumulated cyclone energy, or ACE, a measurement of a cyclone’s energy over time.

Freddy is also the third storm on record to last more than 22 days, said NOAA’s Carl Schreck. Hurricane John in 1994 and an unnamed Atlantic hurricane in 1899 are the other two. The natural weather event La Nina and a negative Indian Ocean Dipole, or a change of temperatures over the ocean, “may have produced ocean temperatures and atmospheric circulations that made an event like this more likely,” Schreck added.

Any storm that can remain at such a “strong intensity for so long and make two landfalls is important in terms of human impacts and in terms of science,” said Kristen Corbosiero, professor of atmospheric and environmental sciences at the University of Albany.

ALSO READ-5 SL fishermen missing after cyclone Mandous

Previous Story

Senegal’s ex-PM in custody after criticism

Next Story

Kapp, Shafali power Delhi Capitals to 10-wicket win over Gujarat Giants

Latest from -Top News

Trump tariffs send world markets into panic

US benchmark crude oil shed $2.70 to $64.25 a barrel after major oil producers announced they plan to increase production. Brent crude, the international standard, was down $2.63 at $67.51 a barrel

EU prepares retaliation for Trump’s tariffs

The European Commission is assembling a fresh round of counter-tariffs aimed at US goods, adding to two existing lists of potential targets—one of which includes products that were hit by suspended tariffs

US, EU slam China’s war games near Taiwan

US President Donald Trump underscored the need to maintain peace in the Taiwan Strait, advocating for a diplomatic approach to cross-strait tensions while warning against the use of force The United States

£13.9 billion of R&D fund to boost innovation, jobs

Funding outlined to support transformational R&D in areas like life sciences, green energy, engineering and beyond More UK innovators like those developing treatment-transforming dementia tests or building world-leading testing facilities to power

OPEC+ accelerates oil output hikes

Despite the production boost, the group emphasised that future adjustments remain flexible and could be paused or reversed depending on market conditions. Eight OPEC+ nations have unexpectedly decided to accelerate their oil
Go toTop

Don't Miss

Jaishankar due in Uganda, Mozambique

During the visit, he will meet Mozambique’s top leadership and

Mozambique launches census on artisanal fishing, aquaculture

Some of the reasons leading to negative records in the