High waves crash along the coast as Cyclone Freddy nears an island. (For representation/AFP)
According to the Mozambique National Institute of Meteorology (INAM), Freddy, which is on track to become the longest-lasting cyclone on record, slowed its progress towards the southern African nation and was 60 kilometers from the coast on Saturday morning .
Heavy rain and winds began lashing parts of Mozambique on Saturday, officials said, as Tropical Cyclone Freddy slammed into the country for the second time in as many weeks.
Freddie, which is on track to become the longest-lasting cyclone on record, slowed its progress towards the southern African nation and passed 60 kilometers (40 miles) from the coast on Saturday morning, according to Mozambique’s National Institute of Meteorology (INAM). miles) away.
“The system reduced its speed from seven to four kmph, thus delaying its entry,” INAM said in an update.
It said “heavy rains and very strong winds” were affecting the central provinces of Zambezia, Manika and Sofala.
After the first fatal hit in late February, the cyclone was expected to make a second landfall in Mozambique later this week.
It was initially estimated to make landfall on Friday night.
“There is already a lot of flooding,” Guy Taylor, a spokesman for the UN children’s agency UNICEF, told AFP from the port of Quelimane in Zambezia on Saturday.
He said that the rain and wind had been “on and off” as the cyclone approached.
“We saw people walking in knee-deep water with water in their homes. And that’s just with this early rain.”
On Friday, officials said more than half a million people were at risk.
The storm was forecast to drop up to 400 millimeters of rain over the next few days, more than double the normal monthly rainfall.
Freddy, which began life off northwestern Australia in the first week of February, was set to become the longest-lasting tropical cyclone on record, according to the United Nations World Meteorological Organization (WMO).
It crossed the entire southern Indian Ocean and battered Madagascar from 21 February, crossing the island before reaching Mozambique on 24 February.
Following what meteorologists describe as a “rare” loop trajectory, Freddy headed back toward Madagascar before turning once again toward Mozambique.
During the first visit it destroyed, damaged or flooded more than 28,000 homes, affecting about 166,000 people.
Overall, Freddy has killed at least 27 people so far – 10 in Mozambique and 17 in Madagascar.
Taylor expressed concern that the renewed flooding could fuel a cholera outbreak that has killed at least 38 people and infected nearly 8,000 since September.
The disease, which causes diarrhea and vomiting, is contracted from a bacterium that is usually spread through contaminated food or water.
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(This story has not been edited by News18 staff and is published from a syndicated news agency feed)