Today in History: Cyclone Favio makes landfall in Mozambique
On 21 February, a day before making landfall, Cyclone Favio had peaked, with winds of 225km/h.
On this day in 2007, Cyclone Favio made landfall in the Mozambican province of Inhambane, and went on to cause an estimated $71 million in damage.
Early on 11 February 2007, a zone of disturbed weather formed east of Madagascar. Four days later, Favio was named as it intensified to a moderate tropical storm while moving southwest. On 18 February, the storm was upgraded into a severe tropical storm. Then, it turned west in the general direction of Mozambique.
Continuing to intensify, Favio was upgraded to a tropical cyclone early on 19 February. Subsequently, the storm began to undergo rapid deepening; the small storm reached intense tropical cyclone status the next day, before peaking in intensity on 21 February. However, the cyclone had weakened somewhat prior to making landfall on 22 February in the Inhambane Province in Mozambique. It rapidly weakened over land and dissipated the next day.
Prior to the arrival of Favio, flooding swept over Mozambique weeks earlier, forcing 163 000 persons to seek shelter. The floods started in late December 2006, when the Cahora Bassa Dam overflowed its banks. The floods escalated in February 2007, when the Zambezi River broke its banks, flooding the surrounding areas in Mozambique.
A total of 80 600 people were evacuated from their homes in the Tete, Manica, Sofala and Zambezia provinces on February 14. Twenty-nine people were confirmed dead due to the pre-Favio flood.
About 130 000 homes suffered damage and 130 schools were levelled by Favio in Mozambique. In all, a total of 10 people were killed by the storm and nearly 100 others were injured. Combined with the earlier flood, Favio caused $71 million (2007 USD) in infrastructural damage.
About 64 000 people moved to tents during the storm and another 33 000 people were displaced. Cyclone Favio destroyed 277 000ha of crops, primarily in the Vilanculos, Inhassoro, Govuro, and Masinga districts in Inhambane. Overall, 160 000 people were affected by the storm.
Information courtesy of https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyclone_Favio.
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