A persistent cyclone that won’t go away has wreaked havoc in Malawi and Mozambique, killing over 200 people and leaving many more hurt or missing.
Five people have been confirmed killed in Mozambique, but the full amount of the damage and casualties is yet unknown, while at least 190 people have perished in Malawi. Malawian authorities had stated that they anticipate a rise in the death toll.
On Saturday night, Cyclone Freddy struck Africa for the second time in a month, leaving a path of destruction in its wake. It has strengthened again after weakening seven times, breaking records in that regard.
It is also on track to be the longest tropical cyclone ever observed, and it has the largest ever observed accumulated energy for a storm, which measures how much energy a storm has released over a certain period of time. It has produced more energy thus far than a typical US hurricane season does in its whole lifetime.
And the cyclone hasn’t subsided yet, according to French weather agency Meteo-France’s regional centre, which warned “the heaviest rains will continue over the next 48 hours”.
On Saturday, Freddy made landfall in the seaport of Quelimane in Zambezia province, Mozambique, where there were reports of damage to houses and farmlands.
One family in Malawi died after torrid winds and rain destroyed their house, according to authorities.
Among the victims is a three-year-old child who was “trapped in the debris” with her parents reported missing, authorities said.
On the toll of casualties and missing people, Malawi police spokesperson Peter Kalaya said: “We suspect that this figure will rise as we are trying to compile one national report from our southwest, southeast and eastern police offices which cover the affected areas.”
The destruction is being compounded by the threat of disease with Doctors Without Borders saying the threat of a resurgence of cholera remains a major concern as Malawi recently suffered the biggest outbreak the country has seen in its history.
Over the last month, the storm travelled from near Australia across the entire southern Indian Ocean, hitting Madagascar and Reunion on its path.
The UN’s weather agency will determine if Freddy has broken the record for the longest tropical cyclone set by Hurricane John in 1994 of 31 days. Meteo-France also said that Freddy should subside and exit back to the sea on Wednesday.
Experts say that while fossil-fuel driven climate change has not increased the number of tropical cyclones overall, it has increased the number of intense and destructive storms in three key ways.
A warmer atmosphere can hold more moisture, increasing the extreme rainfall dumped by storms. Hotter oceans also fuel more powerful storms, spreading tropical storms further north and south. Higher sea levels also inflict more damage during a storm surge. skynews