SONNA – Cyclone Freddy has hit Mozambique for a second time in two weeks, killing at least one person, ripping roofs off houses, and prompting a lockdown in one port town, according to a resident and local media.
After swirling in the southern Indian Ocean for 34 days, Freddy is on track to become the longest-lasting cyclone on record.
Freddy, on track to become the longest-lasting cyclone on record, started sweeping onshore by 10 pm local time (20:00 GMT) on Saturday, satellite data showed, after hours of battering the southern African coast with rain.
It was the second time the cyclone has struck Mozambique since it was named after being spotted near Indonesia on February 6. At least 27 people died the last time the storm pummelled 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.
It said there was a high risk of flooding in Zambezia and neighboring Nampula province. Water levels at several river basins were already above the alert level, it added.
State broadcaster TVM said one person died when his house collapsed and that the power utility had switched off the electricity completely as a precaution. All flights were suspended, it added.
Vania Massingue, a resident of Quelimane, said the port town was locked down ahead of the storm’s landfall.
“The town is a no-go zone; no shops or businesses open. Everything is closed. We’re locked up,” she told the Reuters news agency. “I can see some houses with roofs torn apart, broken windows and the streets flooded. It’s really scary.”
According to the World Meteorological Organization, Freddy, which has swirled in the southern Indian Ocean for some 34 days, is set to become the longest-lasting tropical cyclone on record. The previous record was held by a 31-day hurricane in 1994.
Source: Aljazeera
