Cyclone Freddy on its way back to Mozambique, will bypass SA

South Africa will not be affected by Cyclone Freddy, which was on its way back to Mozambique for a second time after it regained momentum in Madagascar at the beginning of this month.

Vox weather forecaster Annette Botha said yesterday cyclone Freddy was currently no threat to South Africa.

“If the system moves inland, the weakening ex-tropical depression could bring some heavy rain to Malawi and Zimbabwe,” she said.

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“The cyclone may not be done yet, after hitting Mozambique a second time, as long-range projections suggest the storm could intensify again after re-emerging over the sea.”

Freddy’s death toll

World Meteorological Organisation Weather and Climate Extremes rapporteur professor Randall Cerveny said four people have died in Madagascar due to the latest rains, bringing Freddy’s death toll to at least 21 people, of which 10 died in Mozambique and 11 in Madagascar.

Cyclone Freddy was now the new record holder for the longest-lasting recorded tropical cyclone after hurricane/ typhoon John lasted 31 days in 1994.

Cerveny said parts of southern Mozambique received 500mm rainfall in the past week, while Madagascar received more than 300mm in a week.

WATCH: SA warned that Tropical Cyclone Freddy may hit parts of the country

Associated professor in meteorology at the University of Pretoria Liesl Dyson said tropical cyclone Freddy was extraordinary.

“Freddy has been active for three weeks now – starting close to Australia, moving over the entire Indian Ocean, causing heavy rainfall and floods as it moved over Madagascar in the last week of February.

“It eventually moved into Mozambique where it weakened but caused heavy rainfall for days over southern Mozambique.”

Zambezia hardest hit

Dyson said when Freddy moved back into the warm water of the Mozambique channel early this month, it redeveloped into a tropical cyclone and caused further heavy rainfall over Madagascar.

“Freddy is now on its way back to Mozambique and expected to make landfall north of Beira the coming weekend. At this point, it appears that the province of Zambezia will be hardest hit,” she said.

“The only good thing about that is that the major impact of Freddy will be further north along the coast of Mozambique and will not directly influence the same area it did on its first landfall.”

WATCH Cyclone Freddy: Deadly storm to bypass SA, but brace for scorching weather

Dyson said cyclones and hurricanes were the same things.

“Cyclone is a generic term for a low-pressure system. A tropical cyclone is then an intense low-pressure system that develops and moves in the tropics,” she said.

“In the Indian Ocean, these lows are referred to as tropical cyclones. In the Atlantic Ocean and eastern Pacific oceans, it’s called hurricanes and in the western Pacific Ocean typhoons. But they are all the same thing.”