Cyclone Freddy leaves 7 dead in Madagascar, makes second landfall in Mozambique

Cyclone Freddy slammed into Madagascar late Tuesday with intense bands of rain and powerful winds as it moved over land for the first time in its lengthy lifespan. Multiple deaths have been attributed to the storm in Madagascar, and as recovery operations get underway there, AccuWeather meteorologists say the storm made a second landfall in Mozambique on Friday.

Freddy churned over the Indian Ocean for more than two weeks before it barrelled into Madagascar. The cyclone's origins date back to Feb. 6 when it formed off the southern coast of Indonesia. Freddy's first direct encounter with land occurred 15 days later near Mananjary, a city on Madagascar's eastern coastline, around 7:30 p.m. local time Tuesday, Feb. 21.

Météo France La Réunion, the government agency responsible for tracking storms in this part of the world, estimated Freddy's maximum sustained winds to be equivalent to a Category 2 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale (96-110 mph or 154-177 km/h) at the time of landfall.

This satellite loop shows Freddy just prior to landfall in Madagascar on Tuesday, Feb. 21, 2023. (AccuWeather)

"This makes Freddy the strongest storm to strike Madagascar since Cyclone Batsirai ripped through the region in early February 2022," AccuWeather Lead International Forecaster Jason Nicholls said.

No other tropical cyclones observed in this part of the world have taken such a path across the Indian Ocean in the past two decades. Freddy closely mirrored the track of Cyclone Leone, also known as Eline, in 2000, which holds the record for the longest-lived cyclone in the Indian Ocean, traveling nearly 7,000 miles (11,265 km) over 29 days. Only two other cyclones in history, Hudah in 2000 and Litanne in 1994, survived the lengthy east-to-west route over the Indian Ocean.

Freddy passed near Mauritius and Réunion (the Mascarene Islands), which lie to the east of Madagascar, Monday night into Tuesday morning, local time. Rainfall amounts neared 2 inches (50 mm) in the town of Vacoas, Mauritius, as wind gusts approached 60 mph (100 km/h). However, the islands were spared the worst of the cyclone's impacts as the storm remained to the north of the islands, providing a glancing blow rather than a direct strike.

AccuWeather meteorologists were warning more than a week in advance that Madagascar was unlikely to be spared from a direct blow from Freddy.

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A clearer picture of the extent of the damage across the country was revealed on Wednesday as the cyclone lost wind intensity on its westward path over land. Strong wind gusts flattened rice fields and fruit trees and tore some roofs off buildings, AFP reported. More than 6,700 homes were damaged.

At least seven deaths have been attributed to the cyclone, according to Reuters, including one man who drowned amid rising seas prior to landfall.

Travel was shut down along Freddy's path Tuesday night into Wednesday, local time, and school was suspended in at least 10 regions, according to Reuters.

People work on a damaged building, in Mananjary district, Madagascar, Wednesday, Feb. 22, 2023, after Cyclone Freddy reached Madagascar. (AP Photo/Solofo Rasolofomanana)

The city of Mananjary, home to around 25,000 people and near where Freddy moved ashore, received nearly 5 inches of rain (130 mm) of rain, with sustained winds of 92 mph (150 km/h) at landfall, according to Nicholls. This part of the country is still vulnerable following the strike by powerful Batsirai just one year ago.

At least 16,000 people have been displaced around Mananjary, The Associated Press reported.

"Bananas and breadfruit trees fell because of the winds," Gabriel Ravelomanantsoa, a resident of Antsenavolo, located about 30 miles (50 kilometers) southwest of Mananjary told the AP. "This is what people eat daily and everything is now destroyed."

Ravelomanantsoa added that homes "were not affected that much" because people in the surrounding area had their properties reinforced due to the advanced knowledge of the storm.

Just one month ago, Tropical Cyclone Cheneso unleashed days of flooding rain and damaging winds to western and northern portions of the island nation. Many of these same areas were being affected by Freddy at midweek before the center of the storm moved over the Mozambique Channel.

Freddy made landfall in Mozambique on Friday. (AccuWeather)

After the cyclone stayed away from any landmass for more than two weeks, AccuWeather meteorologists say it made a second landfall in a matter of days - this time over southern Africa.

As AccuWeather forecasters predicted, Freddy regained some wind intensity as it traveled over the Mozambique Channel on Thursday. It then made landfall immediately south of Vilanculos, Mozambique, at 4:00 p.m. local time (7:00 am Eastern time) Friday as a moderate tropical storm, packing maximum sustained winds of about 50 mph (about 80 km/h). This recent landfall occurred nearly three weeks after the storm's initial formation.

Heavy rain and flooding will remain the biggest concern as Freddy moves inland and loses wind intensity into the weekend. As of early Friday evening, local time, nearly 3 inches (about 75 mm) of rain had already fallen in Vilanculos. Due to the elevated risk for flooding, officials had declared a "red alert," and said up to 1.75 million people could be impacted.

After soaking Africa, Freddy's leftover energy could then reemerge off the coast. "It is possible that the ghost of Freddy returns to the Mozambique Channel early next week and strengthens some before impacting southern Madagascar from the west later next week," Nicholls said.

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