Cyclone Freddy became Earth’s most energetic on record. It lashed Mozambique two times and was also the longest-lived tropical cyclone ever observed, for 35 days. Cyclone Freddy first developed on February 6 between Western Australia and Indonesia but covered a long distance to parts of Africa affecting Madagascar and Mozambique. On Sunday, March 12, Freddy was centered near the mouth of the Zambezi River, gradually losing strength.
The entire damage produced by the cyclone can’t yet be evaluated because communications and electricity were affected but is known it killed at least 27 in Madagascar and Mozambique. Freddy attained Category 5 strength twice over the open southern Indian Ocean in mid-February. It’s expected that Freddy will finally dissipate by late Monday or early Tuesday generating heavy rains in northern and central Mozambique. The country already has received more than a year’s worth of rainfall in the past four weeks. Freddy could yet bring destructive winds and extreme rainfall over large areas, including north-east Zimbabwe as well as south-east Zambia. More than half a million people could be at risk of a humanitarian crisis.
