wmo Monitoring continues for the “remarkable” tropical storm, which has cut a destructive path across both countries since first developing a month ago.
At least 21 people have been killed and thousands displaced in the latest deaths on Monday in Madagascar.
deep Impact
“Freddie has Major Socio-Economic and Human Impact The death toll on affected communities has been Limited by accurate forecasts and early warningsAnd Integrated Disaster Risk Reduction Action On the ground – although one casualty is one too many,” Said Dr. Johan Stander, WMO Services Director.
Tropical cyclone Freddy developed off the northern Australian coast, becoming a named storm on 6 February. It then crossed the entire South Indian Ocean before sliding into Madagascar on 21 February and then Mozambique three days later.
brought a storm heavy rain and flood for several days before returning to the Mozambique Channel, taking energy from the warm waters along the way, and then moving towards the southwest coast of Madagascar.
death, displacement, destruction
Freddie is now moving away from the area, but is expected to intensify headed back to mozambiqueAs per the latest trajectory, which warns of heavy rain in the next 36 hours. The storm could make landfall later in the week, though the forecast is still uncertain.
United Nations Office of Humanitarian Affairs, ochaon Monday informed of Four people have died in Madagascar due to the latest rains, bringing the total death toll there to 11. More than 3,100 people have been displaced and more than 3,300 homes have been flooded or destroyed.
Meanwhile, 10 deaths have been reported in Mozambique, which was already experiencing flooding from heavy seasonal rains ahead of the storm. Officials estimate that around 1.75 million people have been affected and more than 8,000 displaced.
A humanitarian operation is currently underway in the area, with further challenges expected after Freddy makes landfall again.
‘Remarkable’ and ‘Rare’
“Meteorology, Freddy’s done a remarkable stormWMO said a press releaseadding that its visits to the entire Indian Ocean and Madagascar are “very rare”.
Freddy also set a record for having the highest accumulated cyclonic energy (ACE) of any Southern Hemisphere hurricane in history, according to the US space agency NASA, referring to an index for measuring the total amount of wind energy associated with a tropical cyclone. Is. Its lifetime.
The WMO is tracking whether the storm will become the world’s longest-lasting tropical cyclone. The current record holder in the Central Pacific was Hurricane/Typhoon John, which lasted 31 days in 1994.
“At this time, it appears to be a new record holder for ‘longest-lasting’ recorded tropical cyclone … but We continue to monitor the situation,said Randall Cerveny, the agency’s Weather and Climate Extremes reporter.