In what is considered to be The Mother of all cyclones in the Southern Hemisphere, Cyclone Freddy has left behind a trail of destructions,loses are still to be counted as it lasted a month striking major corners of Blantyre,the surrounding areas and part of Mozambique.
More than 500 people perished and efforts to rebuild and resuscitate the current situation on the aftermath of The Cyclone are underway, Mozambique’s government has announced $4 million in funds to start rebuilding and in Malawi which saw six months’ worth of rain in six days – has earmarked $3 million dollars for reconstruction and also called for more international help and todate The United Nations has released $10 million in emergency funds
“The Cyclone lasted at least 36 days and made landfall twice in Mozambique, battered southeast Africa over the past month, broke all kinds of meteorological records,”The U.N.’s weather agency said in a statement.
They also said they are currently accessing whether it is the longest cyclone ever recorded – lasting at least 36 days.
“It’s already broken the record for all-time accumulated cyclone energy in the Southern Hemisphere, a measure of the storm’s strength over time, beating the previous record set by Cyclone Fantala in 2016,”added the statement.
The cyclone is also unusual for its looping trajectory, how far it traveled – almost 5,000 miles – as well as how often it dissipated and then re-strengthened.
It formed off the coast of Australia in early February and then crossed the Southern Indian Ocean, making landfall on the island of Madagascar before moving west into Mozambique in late February. It then did a loop, pummeling Mozambique again last weekend and then lashing Malawi, which has declared a state of disaster. It has already killed more than 400 in total and displaced tens of thousands of people, with figures likely to rise.
Many scientists say the world is likely to see weather phenomenon like cyclones become more extreme due to the warming of the oceans.
Source:NPR
Picture Credit:T. Chikondi
