Tropical Cyclone Freddy is moving toward the island countries of Mauritius and Madagascar, which rely heavily on tourism, before it’s predicted to enter the Mozambique channel, according to the Meteorological Services Department (MSD) of Zimbabwe.
South Africa, Mozambique, Malawi, and Zimbabwe are expected to see severe rainfall from Cyclone Freddy.
Botswana, Eswatini, Zambia, and the northern regions of South Africa were also listed as regions that this week would receive “heavy to exceptional rainfall,” with a danger of floods, by the SADC’s Climate Services Centre.
It is predicted that the cyclone may pass Madagascar and enter the Mozambique channel by Monday morning, according to MSD, who stated that the storm was “approximately 1 250 km east of Madagascar.”
Save the Children warned that Cyclone Freddy could affect about two million people living in its path and that half of those would be children.
Aid organisations in Mozambique last week estimated that the floods that resulted in the relocation of 14 792 individuals had touched at least 39 225 people, or around 7 845 households.
260 individuals were reportedly impacted by floods in Eswatini, and six bridges among other pieces of infrastructure sustained significant damage.
More than 200 people were killed and nearly 60 000 hectares of rice crops were flooded by tropical cyclones Batsirai and Emnati last year when they tore through Madagascar’s south-eastern region.
South Africa is preparing for weather shifts as meteorological authorities keep hourly tabs on the situation since cyclone tracks can alter dramatically.
In Mpumalanga, the Eastern Cape, Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal, Limpopo, the Northern Cape, and North West, among other places, agricultural land and infrastructure had been damaged with at least seven deaths, according to media accounts from last week.