One dead as Cyclone Freddy hits Mozambique for the second time

After swirling in the southern Indian Ocean for 34 days, Freddy is on track to become the longest-lasting cyclone on record.

Cyclone Freddy has hit Mozambique for the second time in two weeks, killing at least one person, ripping roofs off houses and shutting down a port city, according to a resident and local media.

Freddy, on track to become the longest-lasting cyclone on record, began to sweep ashore at 10 p.m. local time (2000 GMT) on Saturday, satellite data showed, after hours of rain pummeling the southern African coast.

It was the second time the cyclone had hit Mozambique since it was named after being spotted near Indonesia on February 6. At least 27 people died the last time the storm hit the region.

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said Freddy made landfall in Mozambique in the Quelimane district of the central Zambezia province as a tropical cyclone.

He said there was a high risk of flooding in Zambezia and neighboring Nampula province. Water levels in several river basins were already above the alert level, she added.

State broadcaster TVM said one person was killed when their house collapsed and the utility company had cut off electricity completely as a precaution. All flights were suspended, she added.

Vania Massingue, a resident of Quelimane, said the port city was on lockdown before the storm made landfall.

“The city is a forbidden zone; there are no shops or businesses open. Everything is closed. We are locked up,” he told the Reuters news agency. “I can see some houses with smashed roofs, broken windows and flooded streets. It’s really scary.”

According to the World Meteorological Organization, Freddy, which has been swirling in the southern Indian Ocean for about 34 days, will become the longest-lasting tropical cyclone on record. The previous record was held by a 31-day hurricane in 1994.

After forming off northwestern Australia in the first week of February, Freddy crossed the entire southern Indian Ocean and struck Madagascar from 21 February before reaching Mozambique on 24 February.

More than 171,000 people were affected when the cyclone swept across southern Mozambique last month, bringing heavy rains and flooding that damaged crops and destroyed homes. OCHA has put its death toll at 27 so far: 10 in Mozambique and 17 in Madagascar.

Freddy then headed back to Madagascar before moving once more towards Mozambique, in what forecasters have described as a “weird” circular path.

This time, more than half a million people are in danger in Mozambique, especially in the provinces of Zambezia, Tete, Sofala and Nampula.

Guy Taylor, a UNICEF spokesman, told the AFP news agency that the cyclone had caused “substantial flooding” before making landfall.

“We saw people with water in their houses, walking through knee-deep water. And that only with this little bit of initial rain”, he said from Quelimane.

Taylor noted concerns that further flooding could exacerbate a cholera outbreak that has killed at least 38 people and infected nearly 8,000 since September.

The disease, which causes diarrhea and vomiting, is contracted from a bacterium that is usually spread through contaminated food or water.

Also expected to hit northeastern Zimbabwe, southeastern Zambia and Malawi, Freddy has set a record for the highest cumulative cyclone energy (a measure of storm strength over time) of any storm in the hemisphere. south in history, according to the US National Service. Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Around the world, climate change is making hurricanes wetter, windier and stronger, scientists say.

The oceans absorb much of the heat from greenhouse gas emissions, and when warm seawater evaporates, its heat energy is transferred to the atmosphere, fueling more destructive storms.