Faith Nyasuguta
Cyclone Freddy is set to make landfall again in Mozambique later this week after striking Madagascar for a second time on Monday.
According to Madagascar’s government, eight people were killed and more than 1,000 homes were destroyed.
Late February was the first time the storm wreaked havoc in south-eastern Africa, killing 21 people and displacing thousands in both countries.
According to meteorologists, it is rare for a storm to make such a loop.
The tropical cyclone is on track to become the longest-lasting storm on record and it continues to gain strength.
So far, the storm has already broken records for the strength it has accumulated and the 8,000-km (5,000-mile) path it travelled across the Indian Ocean.
Its longevity and strength have arrested the interest of weather experts globally.
In early February, the cyclone developed off the north Australian Coast and then travelled thousands of kilometres across the southern Indian Ocean, affecting Mauritius and La Réunion, before making landfalls in Madagascar two weeks later and then Mozambique.
Experts say that is a very rare path for such a storm to take.
It already holds the record for highest accumulated cyclone energy in the southern hemisphere. That is a measure of a storm’s strength over time.
Mozambique is now bracing for a second landfall, whilst still reeling from the rains and floods brought by the cyclone.
In the past week alone, Madagascar received around three times its usual monthly average rainfall.
The Weather and Climate Extremes evaluation committee of the UN notes that it will probably set up an investigation into this “remarkable” and “rare occurrence” after the cyclone has dissipated.
