KEY POINTS
- 75 million people are likely to be affected.
- Tropical Cyclone Freddy has landed as a moderate storm in Mozambique on Friday.
- Flooding might affect 1.75 million people in Mozambique.
- Freddy could also affect areas in Zimbabwe and South Africa.
Tropical cyclone Freddy, which has been sweeping over the Indian Ocean for several days and killed seven people in Madagascar, is now only a moderate tropical storm after making landfall in Mozambique on Friday.
The Madagascar government announced in a statement on Thursday that the winds associated with the storm were blowing at an average speed of 65 km/h with gusts up to 90 km/h, bringing the Big Island death toll from five to seven.
The second-busiest port in Mozambique has suspended operations in anticipation of the arrival of Tropical Cyclone Freddy, a severe storm that made landfall on Friday.
According to a note to customers published on the operator Cornelder de Moçambique’s Facebook page, the port of Beira, which is in the middle of the nation, will resume operations on Saturday. Many southern African countries, including Zimbabwe, import fuel from Beira.
Freddy made its landfall as a tropical storm along the coast of Mozambique, close to Vilankulo, a popular tourist destination around 150 miles south of Beira. The storm made its landfall close to the natural gas production facilities at Pande and Temane owned by Sasol Ltd., from which fuel is supplied to South Africa. In response to inquiries sent via email, the company stated that it is taking all required measures to protect the safety of its employees and business activities.
Several flights were canceled in Mozambique, while schools in Zimbabwe’s southern and eastern regions—the areas where Freddy is predicted to have the greatest impact—were closed on Friday. According to the authorities, flooding in central and southern Mozambique might have an impact on as many as 1.75 million people.
The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) warned on Thursday that “months’ worth of rainfall may fall in the space of a few days, producing widespread flooding in an area which already has saturated soils and high river-basin levels after abnormally strong seasonal rains.” “The cumulative effect could be substantial.”
Freddy formed off the northwest Australian coast before traveling over the southern Indian Ocean and touching down on Madagascar’s east coast, where it caused at least seven fatalities. According to the WMO, the last time a cyclone traveled such a distance was in 2000, which was also a La Nina year, when Eline and Hudah produced catastrophic floods in Mozambique.
According to the country’s weather office, the storm could result in “catastrophic” flooding in regions of northeastern South Africa, which has already had significant rainfall this month.
According to South African Weather Service forecaster Kevin Rae, previous storms have damaged the transmission lines that South Africa uses to import electricity from the Cahora Bassa hydropower dam in Mozambique.
However, it is likely that it won’t affect areas on which the country depends for coal mining and power generation. The state power utility, Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd., has already implemented record-breaking power outages due to its inability to keep up with demand.
Communities are still recovering from Cyclone Idai.
Since Cyclone Idai struck the country in 2019, Mozambique has been recovering for more than three years. Such recovery is evident. In the lower Beira corridor, in the province of Sofala, along the Busi and Pungue river basins Many are hoping that Cyclone Freddy will not derail the ongoing efforts for resilient recovery in parts of Mozambique and Zimbabwe that were ravaged by Idai. These areas are the most affected and suffer from chronic vulnerability to cyclones and floods.
